


Reticent Darlings

by jadedskywalker



Series: The Dark & The Light [1]
Category: Star Wars - AU, Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anal, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, BDSM, Bondage, Consensual Kink, Dark, Dark Luke, Dom/sub, Drug Use, Explicit Language, F/M, Flogging, Humiliation, Kink, Light Bondage, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Pain, Painplay, Porn, Porn With Plot, Rape/Non-con Elements, Reverse Dom/Sub, Rope Bondage, Shibari, Spanking, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Tragedy, Vaginal Fingering, more tags to come
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-07-19 08:52:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 64,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7354213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jadedskywalker/pseuds/jadedskywalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Having escaped the Empire's sadistic prison six years earlier, Jedi-Master Luke is desperate to repay the favor to his former captor, ex-Emperor's Hand, Mara Jade.<br/>–<br/>Sequel now in progress--check for Part II: Injurious Strangers!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the cantina

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: Flashbacks in this fic are from the time after ESB but before RoTJ; current day is six years after the events of that in-between period. Luke had bury a world of pain to get through that final battle with his father, as you'll come to read... Oh, you beautiful Skywalkers. 
> 
> PLEASE be warned by the tags ^^. This is an intense fic and will only get more so as the chapters progress. If any, and I mean ANY, of the above tags are triggers or simply aren't in your wheelhouse, feel free to NEXT this fic. I do angst, not fluff. I do dark, not light. & so on..
> 
> Though, I'm all for a Jedi kicking some Sith ass. Psychology, right?

Luke's hands aren't shaking. 

He's aware the moment she enters through a rear door of the ancient cantina; aware that's she's suspicious and on edge, though that's nothing new for Mara Jade's overall disposition. 

Luke pauses at this and thinks a spell; after a standard minute or two, it dawns on him that he _likes_ the ever-present weariness to his former sadist.

Former _torturer_.

The word echoes inside of his head, droning on like a bell tower at high light, and yet somehow…his hands still do not shake. 

Skywalker senses as Mara makes her way closer now; the darkened booth he’s currently sat in is more than a little ideal for the first stage of this long overdue plan, and so he shifts lower into the seat cushion in preparation. 

It was pure happenstance that the location itself will, in the end, play a rather noteworthy role within his ambitions, and Luke silently thanks the Force for such the wink of luck. 

Where the booth was built inside of _Coruden_ , one of Coruscant’s oldest and largest cantinas, it creates a near-invisible groove against the back wall and rear right corner, doing its best to hide him well. Beside Luke there is a hard-built partition made of duracrete—this adds to his privacy, as the barrier separates his shadow-heavy two-seater from the next. Briefly he wonders what sort of sexual past the chair that holds him has seen with its other patrons… 

A flash—and suddenly they come to him with unbidden urgency: visions of seduction breach and assault his steely resolve and the fluidity of Luke's lust begins to drown all other points of focus within his mind. 

An image of _her_ from the past appears, followed by a searing heat that races from the bottom of his belly to the base of his groin. Luke couldn't fight away this fevered rush of _want_ if his very existence depended on it. 

He gives in for only the smallest of moments and allows his eyes to roll closed, lost in the chasms of an impure craving. It’s a want he’s not seen satiated in years. 

Skywalker is caught like prey in a spider's web, cocooned by the crystal-clear recollections of Mara Jade. Of what she _did_ to him. Of how she changed him. 

But just as quickly as it starts, the Jedi Master abandons the past for fear of losing any further control. These are the kind of failings that invite the Dark Side into his very soul, and of that he has no doubt. 

But he _was_ altered back then, irrevocably and unapologetically. Only no one is wiser for it—not Leia or Han or any of his students at the Temple. He hides it so immensely well…hides the ink-black sliver of darkness that’s always there, growling and clawing at the very seams that form all that he is. 

The Jedi shakes his head clear, now is not the time for existential pondering. He’s known a good bit of time that he is neither all light nor all dark. 

Mentally back in the present, Luke fingers the hood of his ebony robes, pulling it first high and then down over his light-brown, unkempt hair; he could appear all but invisible if he allowed it, however, absolute stealth would do him no favors. 

Mara would undoubtedly suspect that _something_ wasn't right if the “client” registered as little more than a black hole within the Force. No, the former Emperor's Hand would immediately cut her losses and head straight back to the speeder she sauntered in off of. 

Knowing this much about Jade, Luke maintains a solid, impenetrable shield, a presence she will easily recognize; the smuggler has spent enough time around the Jedi Temple to know that this shielding practice is nothing more than typical defense strategy. And Mara was aware that her client _is_ a Force-sensitive, so nothing involved with this meeting today should come as a surprise. 

Only it will because Luke isn’t just _some_ Force-sensitive. Not to her and certainly not to the New Republic. 

The Fall of the Galactic Empire sneaks into the forefront of his memory and Luke is momentarily transported back to a time when Hell and Freedom weren't so different from one another. 

Darth Vader’s death slips into Luke’s thoughts, and where there should be anger and resentment for his father, lives a murky sort of understanding these days. But like the lustful visions from earlier, Skywalker pushes Anakin from his banks and continues the silent wait. 

Mara is but a few moments away from reaching the steps that lead up to Luke’s table; the cantina’s low lighting catches her emerald eyes and they’re aflame with anticipation as she sways purposefully towards his exact direction. Her hips are moving as though she is dancing—no hesitation, no trepidation… only conviction and an incomparable confidence there. 

Luke's gaze shifts and holds to colors of red and gold that are partially hidden beneath a shabby hood—a hand-stitched piece of cloth that shrouds Mara’s shoulders and ends partway down against her belly. He notes then that her hair is wavier and far longer than the last time he has seen her, and for a moment wonders if the ex-Imperial remembers…

His mind slips infinitesimally, as if a slice of him were teleported back to those endless days in the depths of the Empire’s manufactured hell. A sudden visage of Mara hovered above a broken version of himself demands his full attention; it was those fire-red strands draped softly against the sides of his face, strands redolent of roses and rain, that caused him to come undone. 

It was such a simple thing, really: _her_ hair. And yes, it was her soft fiery hair, but it was more than that. It was her that blocked the lights of his antiseptic-scented, Jedi-reinforced prison cell. Her that shrouded the whiteness that never gave into the night, never dimmed or offered him respite. 

Luke felt dangerously close to coming apart completely, but for the third time in as many minutes, he denied passage to the past, and then—there she was. Standing across the tabletop from him. 

Skywalker pauses at the visible shudder that rolls through Mara’s proud form, and realizes he may have slipped more through his shields than he initially believed. 

But she's speaking now versus running away…so perhaps simply the sight of him is disconcerting to her?

"It's you. _You're_ the client?" The subtext laden within her tone teases surprise but her body language shows the tells of her discomfort. Where only a few minutes ago she emanated seduction and dominance, now there’s only suspicion and curiosity. 

"Have a seat, Mara, and yes, you could call me that…if you need a name for this," Luke replies in kind, gesturing with his leather-gloved hand to the empty space between them. She tilts her head slightly and removes the tan shroud from her head, leaving it to lie half on, half off the cantina's tacky transparisteel top. 

Luke inhales quietly at the sight of Mara's unveiled appearance, but notices immediately that her well-loved leathers have been replaced by what looks to be an entirely new uniform. Bantha-made as was her previous attire, the hand crafted materials look to be cut and fitted so close to her physique that he can almost see _through_ the fabric. They're different and it’s …slightly unsettling to him for some unknown reason. But it's no matter. 

She must be doing well working for Talon Karrde these days. And that's precisely what he's heard and exactly why he's here, tonight. 

Mara's demeanor betrays her though; she leans a shoulder against the duracrete partition and folds her arms across her chest, putting ample space between them and falsifying an air of ease that Luke knows she doesn’t feel. It's painfully obvious that she's not quite as comfortable as she's trying to let on, but he says nothing about it and waits for her to speak. 

"I'd rather stand, thanks." Biting. This is going exactly as Skywalker imagined it would. He pauses to take a breath and smiles slightly, stretching his back against the wall. “This could take a while, Mara, let me buy you a Reactor Core?”

Mara visibly laughs at that and drops her gaze to settle onto the spidered cracks in the duracrete floor. “Caf, please. No hallucinations for me today, thanks.” 

She looks down as the last of her words echo and Luke’s eyes widen in response; he remembers the how real the hallucinations were, seeing phantoms and devils because of a constant stream of drugs given daily to him six years ago. An ice-white liquid that was forced into his veins so dispassionately, the chill from that serum freezes him at the mere thought. Or was it her that froze him back then? Luke cannot discern. 

She ignores the awkward and poignant silence and uses her back to push away from the wall towards the seat beside him. Jade pauses at the realization of how close they’ll be and makes an executive decision to move the chair and sit opposite her former prisoner. 

Mara can _barely_ restrain her thoughts from venturing into the vault of past experience she’s shared with Luke but he does the unexpected and saves her. Ordering drinks offers up a temporary ceasefire and by all accounts, both are grateful for the reprieve. 

They settle into silence once the two mugs of caf arrive; the smuggler sits and stirs in one too many packets of brown sugar, her mind preoccupied by what the hell all of this might actually turn out to be. 

Luke, on the other hand, likes his caf dark and unsweetened, so he does little more than admire how blissful it must be to actually _be_ Mara Jade. 

How could she just sit there, beside him, mindlessly sweetening her beverage and not think on the endless novel of horrors that was written between them. Does she not recall the echo of his cries? Does she not remember the scent of his blood in the air? The begging, the pleading, the hopelessness when ultimately he gave up?

Has she forgotten the choking, desperate pleas for release… a release he nearly submitted his soul to the dark side to, so that he could _feel_ that end… How could she pretend around him? Even after all these years…

Luke gulped the last bit of his dark caf and forced a smile at her. _'Focus, Luke. Keep yourself on course.'_

“So I hear you’ve been busy with Talon?” It was a segue into polite conversation but it had an astonishingly opposite effect. 

Mara sighed and placed her cup down onto the table, grabbing for her shroud immediately thereafter. “I don’t think my being here is such a good idea, Skywalker. Thanks for the drink.” She was stood before he knew what was happening, wrapping the shabby cloth loosely around her shoulders. 

Luke stifled the surge of panic that found him flooded from heel to head and placed his left real hand onto her forearm. “Mara, I’m just talking with you. No reason to rush out and away from me. I _am_ actually here to trade with you, surprisingly enough.”

His eyebrows lifted as he spoke to her, and a slight upturn to the corner of his lips shown as well. Charming was a last ditch effort but Luke wouldn't give up so easily. Not when he didn't even understand what had just happened. 

Forest-colored eyes searched his then and finding no trace of insincerity there, Jade slowly settled herself back down into the chair. “ _Coruden_ isn’t the best place we could have met, Luke, any reason you wanted to chat market trade with me here?”

The Jedi looked around and nodded, a hushed laugh escaping his lips. “I suppose I could have asked you to meet me in the Imperial Palace, but I’d imagine that might have dredged up far too many memories for you.” 

Mara tilted her head and let a tuft of air escape, but conceded he was right by giving a nod and a bite to her bottom lip, stifling a dangerously luring smile. “I suppose you’re not wrong about that.” 

“Anyway, you’re interested in…what exactly, tradewise?” Jade asked, stirring in another packet of brown sugar to her already-cooled sickeningly- sweet caf.

Luke leaned into her and then paused to gaze about the cantina’s expansive room that lain directly ahead of them. He was checking to make sure no one was in the immediate vicinity—looking to make certain that no one would notice the Jedi Master saying what he was about to say, no matter how shadowed and separated their booth may be. 

“…Spice.” 

Mara laughed. A lot. 

“ _You_ want spice? You?” The redhead let loose another hearty giggle before covering her mouth the moment she saw Luke wasn’t returning the favor. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” she asked, now mimicking his earlier movements and shifting herself closer to him. 

Luke nodded and raised his eyebrows, “can you help me or not?” 

Jade shook her head, mouth agape and eyes wide over the incredulity of it all. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Luke, Organa will _kick_ your ass! And then Solo will kick my ass for getting your sister furious enough to kick yours. No way, there’s no way I can, in good conscience, trade spice with you. I’m sorry…” 

Luke’s head dropped in feigned defeat; his plan was working. Only a little longer now…

“Mara it’s…I have trouble sleeping at night. I just need a little bit of Eldratz to get by. Not enough to do any physical harm…I promise. It’s only to help with sleep and relaxation. I’ll pay any price, you know I’m good for the credits.”

Mara sat back and sucked in a heap of stale cantina air. “Luke, I don’t know…” 

Knowing he nearly had her where he wanted her, he went in for the kill: “You owe me this much, after what…went on all those years back.” 

She turned away at that and allowed her head to drop sullenly. Jade had hoped he wouldn’t bring that into this but knew it would always remain an unavoidable impasse they would share. How could it not? 

Gritting her teeth and fidgeting with a few strays of hair, she came to a reluctant decision. “Fine. Where do you want to meet for the drop off?” Not waiting for him to answer, Mara grabbed the tattered scarf and returned it to its place atop her head. 

Luke smiled to himself…it worked. 

“How quick can you get it to me?” Her follow up answer would determine the next phase of his deviances and while he hoped it’d be sooner rather than later, he didn’t allow himself to get his hopes up.

“Tomorrow night, here, twenty-three hundred hours, standard time.” Standing, she absentmindedly checked her blaster charge and then made to leave. 

Luke grabbed her by the cut of her right hip, turning her body around, thus forcing Mara to look eye to eye with him. She silently gasped and then, for a good long moment, ceased to breathe. 

“Wha—“ she started before Skywalker put his face mere inches from hers and, “Not here. Meet me by the abandoned Sleeping Rose cantina building. I’ll be there tomorrow, twenty-three hundred hours. Don’t be late.” 

His hold on Mara stayed as he stood, slowly working himself behind her in an effort to leave their quiet party of two. But as he centered himself, Luke added his other hand to Jade’s left hip, earning him full control over the movements of her waist. With the duracrete partition pressed against his spine and Mara’s backside flush against his middle, Luke felt himself stiffen. That stroke of location luck was coming into play…

Mara’s eyes closed at his brazen affections, and in an act she’ll come to think on ad nauseam later, the smuggler arched her lower back up and into Luke’s groin; the Jedi kept the status quo for the second time in as many minutes, letting his head fall back slightly at how good it felt to have her against him once more. 

But **no** , it _wasn’t_ supposed to feel good. It was supposed to be…getting even. 

A flashback assaulted him, of Mara denying Luke an end she had forced him to beg for…no, _no_ , he wasn’t going to relive that brand of torture right now. NOT here. 

Refusing to be distracted any further, Luke used his fingers, real and artificial, to grip harder, forcing her to cease the pressure she was exerting onto him. Bringing his head down and resting his lips against the soft skin of her ear, Luke whispered, “don’t tell anyone you met me here, Mara, understand? No one can know.” 

Mara pushed the edge of her face to his, seeking out his body, his touch— _him_ again—and shook her head in vertical confirmation. It wasn’t good enough for Luke. 

“Say it out loud, Jade,” he pressed, his voice quiet but demanding. 

“Luke, don’t be ridiculous now, I won’t tell anyone. You have my word,” Mara breathed, her eyes glazing over with an obvious and deep lust for the man at her rear. A lust she didn’t realize lived on, beyond all she had done to him. Done _for_ him. 

At her condescending reply, Skywalker eased himself out from behind her and trekked three steps down, before turning around to address her one final time as equals. “Good. I’ll see you tomorrow night then.” 

He didn’t wait for her to respond. Luke pulled the lip of his hood further over his features and made his way through the crowd, for once no longer ignoring the seductive dark energy that bit at his heels.


	2. the dream, the nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke dreams of Mara...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gets a bit more ...Shibari-like in this chapter. Bit more insight into Luke's mind, but still so so much left to be written! Thanks for all the comments and feedback! <3 x

Luke thrashes in his sleep. He doesn't realize it at the time, of course, but when he wakes, the tossed sheets and salty-sweat skin will leave little room for doubt.

It's the dream, it's the nightmare. The same flashback he's been reliving for six years now. Six years he’s endured a silent hell; six years of wincing at the phantoms that stalk him, of fighting the wraiths that lie in wait. 

These evil quiet ones remain hidden within the cold shadows of his mind, where reality ends and the past begins. They're always there, scratching and gnawing away at the strength he's built upon the memories of before. 

Yet, by all accounts Luke appears recovered on the outside, his image intact and disposition ever wholesome. But beneath the hollow smiles and his black and gray tunics, there lives the scars. Some visible and angry still, most not so much.

Time has lessened the impact on the more skin-deep imperfections, but not all of the Jedi’s injuries were merely superficial. The ones that have faded to dull pinks or shiny, smooth whites were all but forgotten nowadays. Most _have_ been forgotten by now. 

There is one though...

Of the more present wounds Luke would be hard pressed to miss, is Mara's surname. 'Jade' was branded into his already bruised and broken skin during a dangerous break from their routine; as an answer to his constant, albeit silent protestations, Luke was given a gift he could never return. 

But it had unforeseen consequences: On that day, her deviant and bloody act had changed the Emperor’s Hand as much as it had marred his skin. 

Luke studies those four letters each morning and consciously makes to touch them every night before he rests. When he feels the smooth, raised scar tissue with the tips of his _true_ fingers, Skywalker is taken back to that moment, the moment when his overseer embedded herself into him for the very first time.

It's where Mara became a _part_ of Luke rather than just a dangerous woman with a job to do. Neither of them knew or realized this at the time though, but their future had been written in crimson red, the pair irrevocably bonded for the remainder of their days. 

Much like the scar would. 

Luke knows he could have removed or tattooed over the brand many times since it healed, but ...his bones. His very architecture would sense the pressing weight of Jade regardless of whether or not Luke had chosen to banish it from his body. 

So he allowed her surname to stay as it had been intended: although once furious-looking, the burn, placed directly into the center of his chest, was covered and kept safely away from view these days. Resting near the end of his sternum, and sat slightly above his stomach, _Jade_ would forever last, seared into that sensitive, thinly-fleshed area where hard meets soft.

Luke has laughed at this metaphor more than a few times during his nightly ritual with Mara's onerous gift. Laughed because she took all that softness away–Luke Skywalker wasn't the Luke Skywalker people knew him to be. Hadn't been for a great long while now. Six years, eight months and twenty-two days, to be precise. 

He wasn't fond of it, by any measure; the agony that came with such a permanent introduction of another's gravity could and would never fade from his memory. It happened early on during his _stay_ , before the sadistic body-play had taken place but after their initial greetings had grown tiresome. 

Luke had been...pleasant to her at first. Receptive. Cooperative even. Though not in the way the Empire _needed_ him to be. So they made an example of the young Jedi, had shown Luke the depravity and depths they would lower themselves too in an effort to gain an edge against the rebellion. To dominate the situation, using any and all means necessary. 

And _Luke_ was that situation. 

The Pilot That Destroyed the Death Star. 

The Force-sensitive who had briefly trained under Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. 

The boy from nowhere. 

On the opposite side of things, Luke was unable say the same for Mara, as it was obvious she harbored nothing but disdain for him; the Emperor's Hand was all Empire back then, blinded by loyalty and a lifetime of servitude. Her duty to Palpatine and the Galactic Empire had been absolute. 

Not that Luke forgives her, only he ...understood her position. 

Suffice it to say, his understanding continued up until the fire-red iron was held against his bare chest. He heard screams that day, piercing and full of fear and confusion. Had smelled the acrid stench of burned flesh and tasted the rusty residue of blood. 

It was Luke who had done the screaming, Luke, whose flesh had been burned away and foul-smelling, Luke, whose tongue had caught the droplets from a bite inflicted too hard against itself. 

He was never okay after this moment. 

After Mara had marked him, Luke refused to believe in the goodness of any species. His once-trusting and playful nature had been forcibly removed, and any lingering traces evaporated alongside his fevered sweats. 

Those emerald eyes were cruel and empty as they looked down on him, muddied by an overwhelming infusion of lies and deceit and ...hate. 

It broke him. _She_ broke him that day. 

Not so soon after this did Luke find that the brand was merely the beginning. The searing metal had been only the catalyst–it was what let open the gates of hell. 

Being forced beyond the point of no return, Luke abandoned the last remaining tethers of hope. There was no longer a future that saw him returned to Leia, there was only an acceptance that he'd never return to his best friends or the rebellion he so faithfully stood behind. 

It was all gone. He was alone. Only ...not alone. Luke shared his cell with a demon, a beautifully svelte and cunning demon who would push him so far away from his own sense of self that it would irrevocably alter the man he was inside. 

For sixteen hours a day the demon found ways to destroy Luke Skywalker. The Hand crafted and mutated her pets psyche into a state where he _begged_ Mara for what might come next. Had the Jedi on his knees, pleading and whoring for her to give him anything and _everything_. 

He sought her damning touches, her chains and whips and ropes. For blindfolds and contraptions he never knew the name of until a year after his assisted escape. She warped Luke so well, he would lash out intentionally at times, despite knowing what would come of such defiance. 

Luke hadn’t realized this psychological malformations happened until after several weeks of repeated exploitation; as Mara's personal plaything, he endured the full range of human emotion, the submissive experiences never truly allowing him to return back to his former self. 

Even now, even in his sleep Luke craves _her_ and only her, his blood boiling with a repressed need that has gone unfulfilled for far too long. 

No other since Jade has been able to satiate his thirst or grasp the reasoning behind why and how and what it is to be owned and to own another human being. In every sense. 

And it were _those_ memories Luke was incapable of shaking each and every night he laid down to sleep. He _longs_ so deeply for it all to be a nightmare, wants to go back and be whole and untainted like before. But a part of him reconciled the fact that his lucid dreaming offers little more than a terrorizing glimpse. A fog-laden gaze into a past he can neither outrun nor forget. 

It's this part of his life Luke works so hard to hide. No one knows the extent of what had gone on back then, no one outside of Mara and the highest echelons of a fallen empire. Even his father hadn't known the deviant lengths Sidious had sanctioned against Luke–hadn't been privy to the knowledge that his son was even a prisoner back then. 

To this day Luke often wonders what Vader might have done. 

Wonders what even _could_ have been done at that point. And if so, would his father choose to do whatever was necessary? Surely the answer would have been yes–the Sith Lord ended up giving his life for Luke on that fateful day in the Battle above Endor, so there is no question Anakin Skywalker would have rescued his son had he the chance. Or the knowledge. 

But Skywalker has come to terms with the fact that he will never receive the answers he seeks. And so he wars with the visions of a past he loves to despise. A past he refuses to let go of. 

How could he? Each night it's more of the same. 

And tonight, Luke is tossing about in his sleep, limbs pitching high and low, like a ship crippled by the waves of a storm. Every moon he lives to see, he fails more against the memories that have long since won. 

But...it’s one recurring memory in particular that habitually leaves Luke exhausted the morning after a full night's sleep. It wasn't the night of the brand, nor the throat-tearing screams he let loose then either. It wasn't the demeaning vocal abuse she silently whispered into his ears as his body fought to rest itself at each and every days end. 

It was none of these things. 

It was the first time Mara had stripped Skywalker naked of his white dressings and restrained him using hand-spun rope. 

Luke recalls hearing subtle pops and the sounds of friction rubbing as Mara twisted the twine and cut it into sections directly in front of him. During all of this, his wrists had been clasped within a pair of stun cuffs, pulled taut above his head and latched onto reinforced durasteel piping that ran the length of his cell. 

Luke was utterly powerless. For more than one reason…

When Mara finished with the rope rationing, her jade eyes turned onto him, lit aflame with a new devil in residence. 

She made short, quick work of dropping Luke to the tiled floor, stopping only to admire her skills of tying various and intricate knots, and to test the tension in the rope. Luke tried to fight, tried and failed, Yoda’s words echoing inside of him like a poison settling in his gut. 

But Mara was far too swift and way too mechanized to deter and Luke, well, Luke was lacking in every bit that mattered when it came to self defense. 

She had bound each of his wrists to its own bicep, each ankle tied and knotted to its upper thigh. In between the wrappings were placed additional small cuts of rope, weaved in amongst the pre-existing loops to secure him fully. There was no way he could stretch his limbs without breaking the bones themselves. 

So Luke didn't do that. 

Mara moved over him as though she were water flowing over solid rock. After finishing with his limbs, she tied double loops in varying lengths up and down and around his torso, oddly careful to mind the still-healing burn on his chest. 

Her own body however, did little in the way of minding where it touched against his during all of the rope work. Luke never broke eye contact with her as she slithered up his center, snaking her lithe, toned form between his bound legs to hover above his heaving chest. 

Before he could breathe a proper spell or mouth a word of worry, Jade gripped his jaw and added a Taun-Taun bit securely into his mouth. The metal bar sat heavy in the corner of semi-stretched lips, earning Mara a few spots of blood rising from the cracks she had inadvertently broken open on him. 

The bits leather clasp was quickly hooked and tightened a few clicks around the back of his head, which pulled painfully against his overgrown hair. 

The Taun-Taun gear was being used, as she eloquently put it, to get him to _"shut the kriff up."_

Funny, Luke could only recall breathing erratically up to that point. 

Beyond that, the last few feet of rope were looped around his throat and run to a pair of electronic spheres that jutted out from the once-smooth panels on the wall. There was enough slack for Luke to breathe normal, but his situation was bleak and he knew there was no getting out of this unless his captor allowed for it. 

It was during this process that Luke discovered yet another difficult truth: the Ysalamiri that were present night and day above his blindingly-white cell were there to refuse him the Force. Disabling him from protecting his physical self, but also in every way possible. 

This meant no fighting back, yes, but more so than that, no healing trances; not even a modicum of peace he might otherwise had been offered by his connection to the Force. 

There was nothing–it was a black hole surrounding him and it was worse than Jade’s brand. 

There were also the drugs to contend with. Drugs not-so-secretly infused with his daily ration of water–water he initially refused to imbibe for this very reason. The narcotics subdued his physical presence daily, leaving him vulnerable to Mara and the Empire in every possible way. 

It was during his first rope experience Mara showed Luke that there existed more forms of pain than merely the physical harm that came from beatings and burns. 

It was a well-crafted psychological game of torture that Luke succumbed to at the end of this first session with Mara. It were to be these sexual, psychological dominations endured that would go on to solidify his proclivity towards sadism. 

It was _this_ dream. This dream, that is both a nightmare and an awakening for Luke. Because while he sleeps he remembers. And when he wakes...he remembers. 

But it's never the same and yet somehow, it always is. Luke loves to hate this memory more than most of the others. Because he hadn't known, back then. Hadn't understood why he _enjoyed_ what the red devil had done to him. 

How could he have? Luke was a Jedi in training when the Empire seized him–a follower of light, a pure Force-user that should never have given in so quickly to the dark pleasures one can inflict upon the mind and body…

And that's where the nightmare becomes a dream for Luke. It's where the current-day Jedi Master takes to releasing this dark energy that pulls and attempts to seduce him. 

Luke gives in during the night, each and every time, wonders idly some days what might happen if he refused even this much. 

Because he _feels_ her still, when he closes his eyes. 

Luke can remember the way Jade's leather felt like an alien skin against his own, slick and pliable; he wanted to rip it off of her as much as he wanted her to keep it on, to feel it move against him. Remembers how heated the air from between her lips had felt when she slowly slid her tongue around the tip of him. 

Can almost feel the pressure from her teeth as she bit his nipples, or her fingers as they pulled his hair and slapped his face when he whimpered in desperate agony. 

_"No, I said **no** , Luke. If you come now, if you come ever without me telling you to, I'll kill you and feed you to a Dianoga. Understand?"_

Luke sees himself nod in the flashback, feeling the exhaustion of that night all over again with a lucidity that frightens him. 

It went on for hours like that: her hands teasing his aching middle, never fully grasping him. Her glossy black nails running down the inside of his thighs, eyes glowing green with untamed prowess and hunger. 

He nearly passed out from hyperventilating during one particular peak, having been so close to the edge only to be reigned back by a slight slap to his testicles. This happened more times than he could count. 

Luke cried when she smacked him then, loosed actual tears...and Mara still gave no purchase. Rather, she lapped at his wet cheeks with her tongue and laughed as she looked down on him. She didn't stop after that, no, she moved her body and flipped its position so that she sat on his hips, facing away from him. 

Mara was an athletic and lean woman, but the pressure of her weight bearing down on his bound legs was... bad. So, so bad. 

And yet, the _true_ pain came from her fingernails raking up and down his inner thighs, ending just near his center. Her hand almost there now, close, so dangerously close to wrapping around his...

Awaking with a start, Luke slammed his mechanical right palm down onto the top of his holoalarm.

He sat up, tired, achingly hard and sore like always. But today was the day he was set to meet Mara. 

Perhaps tonight there'd be no more nightmares.


	3. eldratz and black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alibis and memories ;)

Stepping out of the ‘fresher, Luke dries his body using a charcoal-gray towel he'd set aside the evening before. The cool water felt like an Endor rain on his skin; after a night spent caught in the dreams of torment and pain by the Empire, Luke awoke in desperate need of a wash. 

But _oh_ , the deep forest-green fire that burned within Mara’s eyes was inescapable; her sea-emerald orbs squinted up at him, though they never broke, as she forced Skywalker down into the end of her throat. 

Luke formed a fist and closed his mechanical fingers, lashing out suddenly and punching the refresher’s tiled white wall; as the muscle memory of Jade taking the length of him showed like a holofilm in his mind, his eyes closed and breath hitched. The Jedi sighed and leaned forward, pressing his forehead flush against the slippery wet ceramic as unbidden need overwhelmed all other rational thought. 

He needed to mediate and find balance. These types of urges were bordering on uncontrollable and happening far too often–but Luke understood that the end of the flashbacks and the beginning of a new reality was nearing. So he tolerated the ebbs and flows knowing they wouldn’t last much longer. 

Yet, he didn't succumb, despite how badly he wanted to–didn’t give in, not this time, not any time. Luke refused himself of _all_ forms of pleasure whenever his past would rise to such peaks, but that was all part of the game Skywalker was playing. The wait, the discipline and obedience. He needed the ache to carry on. To carry him on. 

And Mara. _She_ would be his deathless death, regardless of whether Jade desired to be this prized finish or not. Mara was bound to him, by blood and a debt, and tonight he’d show her in lucid, graphic detail what that meant. 

He stood silent in front of his ‘fresher’s mirror, hair darkened and dripping wet still. The damp, thick cloth towel now lay on the floor by his naked feet, forgotten for the moment. 

Because there it was: **Jade**. The scar. 

Luke stared at the branded surname for a great long while before his left hand moved of its own mind; his fingertips slowly traced over the raised scar tissue, heart aching as he outlined each letter's edge. He would complete the ritual and cover the mark entirely; by flattening his hand against the damaged surface, or letters J to E, which spanned from the tips of his fingers to the heel of his palm, Luke could almost remember what he had looked like prior to Mara’s judgment. 

_Almost._

But... it felt more present today, the malformed skin seemingly raised higher than normal even. Luke knew this thought lived only in his head, of course, and yet he couldn't stop himself from exploring the possibility of it being true. 

It was mesmerizing, like a dark enchantment being sung in the night, luring prey closer to its end one lyric at a time. It was as if its owner–and Luke did consider Mara _its_ rightful owner–was there in the room with him. 

As if she weren’t a ghost from his muddied past, but instead standing above him and pressing fevered metal into his flesh once more. To get him to _“understand his situation.”_ Luke can see her now as he saw her then, so consumed by hate and determination–utterly empty of compassion and morality. 

He swallowed and abruptly shook his head, letting the weight of his arm fall, its gravity pulling his hand from the center of his chest. 

_Save it for later…_ he mumbled to no one, breaking away from the cosmic hold he was becoming far too familiar with. 

He left the refresher for his bedroom to dress for the long day ahead. 

Luke chose head to heel black as the color of his attire, leaving gray robes and an ebony leather sash abandoned on his duvet. What he wore today was similar to his once and former Jedi Knight dressings; the same style, albeit different fabrics, as the ones he fought against his father, Darth Vader, in. 

But they were _not_ the same at all. The clothes he’d worn on the second Death Star had been destroyed after the celebrations on Endor had eased down and taken a long breath. They reminded him too much of Anakin, of the Emperor and there was, of course, the smell. A scent had lingered on–a piercing odor likened to burned durasteel and human hair. Luke knew it came from being force-electrocuted by Palpatine but the scent triggered memories, and so did little to suppress the sadness of his father’s death shortly after the relief of Sidious’. 

All that taken into consideration, Luke was surprised he’d kept the outfit the few days he had. Call it nostalgia, call it sadness or remorse, but Luke felt every inch the fool by the time he’d set fire to them as he sought closure. 

But tonight wasn’t that night on Endor, or any of the nights that followed. There were to be no celebrations lasting standard days or weeks.

Tonight Luke wasn't the Jedi Master or a hero of the alliance. He wasn't well-intentioned or good-natured or any other of the attributes people in his life knew him to be. 

He was a hunter, pure and simple. A man seeking fresh blood and the scent of fear on others–well, just one other. 

Mara Jade.

+

No scheduled teachings at Temple today was not by pure happenstance; Luke needed time to finish preparation at the abandoned Sleeping Rose cantina and cement their alibis–both his and Mara’s.

Luke had already logged the next three days at Temple as “Off Planet–Mission Critical,” alerting staff and students of his impending absence. A few of his peers had offered themselves as volunteers to aid him, unbeknownst of the details involved. Skywalker politely declined and thanked them for their support. “Maybe next time…” he’d said to each of them, appreciative but also a bit weary. 

Was this all spinning out of his control? Luke began to wonder, but the time was now. It either happened or it didn’t. And he didn’t think he’d be able to cope if the future was to be born out of the latter. 

As for alibis, he’d holo Leia and Han first, knowing they would most likely be the ones to notice if he did not return home for a few days. 

_Force be with me._ He felt a familiar prick of darkness come into his fingertips as the prayer completed, an energy both cold and inviting, seducing even. It was becoming easier to lie for Luke, easier to drown his cratered soul versus reconstructing it from absolute bottom.

The holo connected, and Luke felt the dark side retreat back to its designated corner. Like a weeping Mooka, reprimanded for poking its owner by the beak one too many times. 

“Hey kid, how’re you?” Han grumbled, sitting upright quicker than his equilibrium was happy with. The smuggler turned rebel alliance fighter, turned husband and father, groaned and smacked a hand over his face. He clearly didn’t want to be awake at the moment, or any moments in the near future. 

“Sleeping in, I see?” Luke retorted, smiling warmly at his brother in law’s disposition. “Late night? Off planet? Where’s Leia?” 

Han faked a smirk, widened his eyes and nodded, “...anyone else would have offered to holo back by now, but not you, huh?” 

Luke laughed at that, a real laugh, and proceeded to throw both of his hands in the air, “you know me, Han.”

But the smart-mouthed pilot didn't know this half of the Skywalker twins as well as he thought he did. Not anymore, anyway. 

Luke looked away for a brief moment to redirect back to the reason he holo’d the Solo’s to begin with. 

A cough, another mumble and then, “whaddya want, Luke?” Han deadpanned before swinging his legs off to the side of the mattress. “Is this gonna be long? Do I need to grab a cup of caf?” 

Luke chuffed at Han’s dismissive attitude and answered with only a grin at first. “Not long, no. I’m headed off planet in a few hours and won't be available. Should be back by day after next though. Wanted to give you and my sister a heads up.” 

Han, not bothering to look at the holo anymore, nodded and sipped from a near-empty mug. This was followed by a low “ugh” and a look of disgust. “Well hooray for you, kid. I’ll pass the message along to my lovely better half. What’s goin’ on anyway...you got a hot date or somethin’?” 

Luke leaned in and placed his finger by the _End Call_ toggle switch and laughed. “...Something like that, yep. Tell Leia I said hello, give Ben a hug from me. See you in a few, Han.” 

He saw his brother in law nod and toss a finger or two in the air before the transmission finally cut out. Luke would bet his life that Leia will try and reach out to him in an hour or so, but his next call would prove to be the trickiest. 

Talon Karrde. 

He wasn't certain if Mara shared the request for Spice with Karrde but a part of him, a small part that remembers the roses and the rain, wants to believe that she didn’t. That Jade listened and acquiesced. And Luke was counting on that whispering gut feeling. 

Holo dialing the Wild Karrde and what he thought was Talon’s direct line, Skywalker waited. 

Once he was received and preliminary greetings had been exchanged with Ghent, Talon sat down and waited a moment. Karrde screened his holo's apparently. 

There was slightly more static interference to this holo than Han’s, but it was to be expected; you never knew where Talon, his ship or crew were on a week to week basis, so reception was typically minimal at best. Not that Luke contacted the smuggler often, but the handful of times he had, it was always the same. 

“Skywalker.” Talon was always direct, believing formalities and pleasantries were a waste of time that could be spent trading, or discussing potential trades. 

Unless you were Mara or a member of the Wild Karrde, Talon made little effort in the way of befriending others unrelated to his means of work. But Luke didn’t care for the why’s or what’s now anymore than Talon cared for a Jedi Master holoing him unexpectedly. 

So Luke dove right into his rehearsed and well-thought out sell: “Karrde. I was wondering if you’d heard from Mara Jade recently about an incoming Coruscant Spice shipment, one specifically concerning a product named Eldratz.” 

A little bit of truth goes a long way, and that paired with Luke’s instinctual feelings about Jade _not_ sharing the details of their meeting at Coruden last night, allowed him a modicum of ...hope. Which was a paradox given what will be transpiring at the end of the day. Luke had no delusions of content or satisfaction, and feeling any or either of those emotions rattled him more than he was willing to admit. 

In the end though, this situation could go one of two ways: First, Talon might very well know about Luke’s off-the-books order and that could compromise his standing as a Jedi Master, simultaneously kickstarting an ethical Tatooine sandstorm throughout the galaxy. Second, Talon might _not_ know and then Luke’s follow up suggestion will make far more sense than it would otherwise. 

Talon sat back in his chair, the durasteel squeaking under repeated use and stress. “Hmm. Can’t say that I do, Skywalker. But Mara handles the Spice market more than I do these days. She’s on-planet currently. Perhaps you could holo and discuss the details with her first?” 

Luke grinned inwardly, a flicker of darkness clouding his vision. _Not now,_ he quietly bid.

“I was hoping you’d say that. I need to intervene–you won’t lose any profits and your return on investment will remain sound. Is there any way for you to contact Jade ahead of time and schedule a few days in her books with me? I can’t go too deeply into specifics, but from what I’ve been told, Eldratz is arriving with the intent to be distributed within and around my Temple. I can’t permit this but I _can_ redirect sales elsewhere.” Luke took a breather, leaning against the wooden rails on the back of his chair. 

Talon bobbed his head slightly and bit anxiously on his bottom lip. “You’re sure I won’t see any loss of profits with this? You’re asking me to take Mara off the market for a few days AND redirect a bulk shipment…” 

Luke smiled a half and moved closer in–Talon hadn’t realized what he just gave away: Karrde knew nothing of this shipment, because _there was no shipment._ It was only Luke’s individual sale request, not a multi-buyer order. He had Talon where he wanted him. Now it was time for the metaphorical kill. 

“Talon, you have my word. I can’t allow my students or staff exposure to any Spice products but I’ve known both Mara and you long enough to understand the business side of the trade. Jade will handle all sectors and sales persons once the shipment is rerouted. But I’ll need that time with her to set up parameters and gain intel. Can you make this happen?” 

Luke nearly let it slip that he had a meeting scheduled with Jade later in the evening but at the last held it back. That would have ruined and dismantled his well-crafted pitch to Talon from start to finish and he was thankful he realized long ago to mind his tongue. 

Skywalker made a mental note to thank his Uncle Owen for this learned behavior, among a few other things. 

Talon said nothing for a spell before crossing his arms and letting his head fall back onto the rest. The man was studying the top panels of his ship and Luke knew he was assessing the situation as best he could. It didn’t take the smuggler more than a few moments, ever, to make a decision and Luke knew this would be no different. 

“I’m nearing the outer rim at the moment so I won’t contact her direct, but I will update Jade’s datapad with the new schedule–”

“Uh, Talon, apologies on interrupting. I have one small request: might you omit my name in the scheduling and any official documents thereafter? It would be greatly appreciated and I’d owe you.” Luke furrowed his brow and loosed a small, pleading smile in anticipation. 

Talon sighed, sliding a fingertip over one of his own eyebrows, straightening an already smoothed line of hair while he had to think, again, on another decision in as many minutes. 

“Deal. But double my profits or I’ll be looking for that favor a lot earlier than you’d like me to, Jedi Master Skywalker.” 

Luke breathed out a tuft of air he hadn’t known he was holding, he also didn’t miss the not-so-subtle threat weaved into Talon’s words. “Absolutely. I’ll reach out to Mara later this evening. I’m betting she won’t like the impromptu schedule change but I’ll deal with the repercussions as they come. May the force be with you, Karrde.” 

The last thing Luke saw before the holo transmission stopped reporting was Talon rising, right hand reaching out towards a nearby datapad. 

Schedule changes were no doubt already underway. 

Luke mimicked Karrde and stood, stretching his back, feeling tensed muscles ease as the conversation he dreaded most having come and gone. He had tied up all loose and possibly loose ends at his apartment and it was now time to head out and down to the Sleeping Rose. 

So, setting his holo to away mode quickly, before Leia dialed him, and adding a few more lengths of rope and a... special change of clothes to his flight bag, Luke made to exit his home for the next three days. There wouldn’t be any flying in the immediate future, although he did have to account for why his ship would remain on Coruscant. 

Mara and the Jade’s Fire. 

He’d explain ad nauseam when he returned but the Jade’s Fire would ultimately become Luke’s perfect and final excuse. Smuggler ships were notorious for entering and exiting an atmosphere undetected. Luke would use this well-known fact to his benefit and any and all questions concerning his whereabouts would cease and desist. 

Of course he would have to figure out a way to push Spice, although not inside the Jedi Temple, without being branded a dealer. Or, come up with the credits Talon was now due, but that was a worry Skywalker didn’t _actually_ worry about. 

Luke carried his bag to the door and switched off the living space lighting. He didn’t program a timer as he wanted no illusion to his whereabouts. He needed to get out and begin the night; overthinking each and every step that would lead him to the bowels of Coruscant and Mara on her knees was enticing. And he was ready.

+

It shouldn’t have taken any time at all for him to reach the Sleeping Rose, but tonight was not a mere walkabout for the Jedi Master. He couldn't risk being followed or caught, so his shields were running at peak capacity and he rerouted himself more than two dozen times. Backtracking, sidelining, falling in and out of various busy and full cantina’s before finally ending up behind the abandoned Rose.

He entered, using the Force to unlock a rusted inner latch he’d procured a few weeks back from some place or another. He’d already had _their_ section of the cantina chosen and prepared a while now; what once had been the stage for performers of a certain... kind, would now be host to Mara Jade’s reconciliation. 

He stood back and admired his work: The ropes had been hung, the durasteel bars bolted into the walls with matching stun cuffs, the lights set and posed and batteries all charged. The floor was pristine, clean and laid over with sterilized padded plasteel. 

All he needed now was Mara to arrive at twenty-three hundred hours and that would be it. She would complete this massive enigma or drag him to hell for eternity. One way or another the next three days would determine the remainder of his years. 

At present though, it was still early yet–only twenty-two twenty-five and so Luke dropped his bag and switched on the overhead lights to test their strength and effectiveness. 

They were blinding white and suddenly, instantly, Luke wasn’t stood in a hole at the bottom of the world anymore. 

He was bound and hurting within a prison cell, built for and around him, by an Empire that feared his cause. Feared him and what he was capable of. The pain lanced through Luke in a flash–physical and emotional–and anger bubbled to the surface, choking him abruptly. He bent in on himself, left arm wrapping around his abdomen to fight away the agony of then. 

Luke gagged for a few seconds but bit at the nausea and forced air into his lungs, one slow, deep breath at a time. He could do this. He _had_ to do this. 

It was more than sexual sadism. More than repayment or revenge. This was a battle for his soul.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU so much for being so patient with me! I battled a bit of insomnia these last two weeks AND real life work got in the way, as it does from time to time. I'm hoping to get on a weekly update regimen–and will try my hardest from here on out. Thanks for all the love, comments and kudos! <3 x


	4. reticent on one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Mara meet at the Sleeping Rose, they talk, things ...happen.

22:59

“I didn’t think you’d show.” 

“I’m nothing if not unpredictable, Skywalker. Especially when it comes to you.” Jade turns around wearing a grin, winks, and Luke feels a sudden weakness drip into his bones. 

_Why – no, **how** can I let her do this to me? Cut the nonsense and do what you came here to do._ The Jedi’s head tilts, breaking eye contact and inwardly, Luke berates his failings. But he knows it’s better for him to appear as if he’s studying Coruscant’s filthy underbelly versus spending another standard second trapped on that emerald isle. 

He reigns in the edge during this pause, and the darkness wastes not a moment before it steals an opportunity to slither in closer; creeping nearer to him now that his anger is set to simmer, the boiling point inevitable. Luke prays to the Force that it won’t come in a flash. 

“I remember, Mara.” 

Biting. Luke bares his teeth in a mechanized smile, having regularly practiced this in front of his ‘fresher's mirror from time to time, while simultaneously hypnotized by the scar on his chest. 

Mara notes the tension in Luke’s voice but blatantly ignores it, her own words adopting a bark of their own: “I have what you asked for. It’s on the house this time, but any additional trades won’t be. You understand what I’m saying, don’t you?” 

Luke takes a step forward and reaches out to touch her hands. “Not out here. Let’s go inside.” 

He doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t think about how this is the second time his hands have touched her body in as many days. Doesn’t wonder if she will protest and if she should, what he might do to counter any type of offensive. Luke just _does_. His right hand wraps around her left wrist and he guides them towards the door, his grasp firm but benign. 

Mara huffs and yanks her arm back in true Jade fashion, and thrusts her face directly in front of his–“Skywalker. I think I’m able walk through a doorway all by myself, thank you very much.” Shouldering past him, Jade steps into the inky shadows of the Sleeping Rose. 

Luke follows, immersing himself into total darkness. 

The cantina’s ancient door closes behind him, quietly, and Luke secures the latch without preamble. Up until that point his heart had been racing and his focus slipping, but now, here, it feels _right_. It – all of this, the planning, the scheming, the lies, the misinformation – was worth every frantic heartbeat, every earned credit and every single sleepless night he endured the last six years, eight months and twenty-three days. 

His Force shields were strong, ensuring that no part of his inward dialogue or physical reaction could be picked up by Mara, as things needn’t riot out of control just yet. 

“There’s a working light switch down by the old server’s booth. I checked into this location thoroughly beforehand–couldn’t risk Coruscant’s seediest alerting the holonet about our meeting here.” He takes her hand, again without prompt, but this time Mara doesn’t refuse or rebuke the offer. They walk towards their right and she keeps a steady pace silently beside Luke; he surmises that Jade is searching for any warning signs within the Force, her mind attuned and sharp despite the man at her side. Or perhaps, he thinks, _because_ of the man at her side. 

There will be no Force-alarms, of course, but Luke says nothing and allows her the caution. She won’t have Force access in the coming hours, or days, and his experience with self-taught patience tells him to let it happen, to let her have this comfort. 

The path to the booth is short and they arrive without a stumble or a whisper; three human hands and one robotic reach out to grab hold of the plasteel counters edge, steadying themselves as their eyes continue to adjust to a total absence of light. Mara thought then to activate her datapad’s home screen, and a permeating icy-blue glow is thrown over the wasted and forgotten tabletop. 

A flash of indignant anger floods the Force and after he toggles on the light switch he twists around to face her, unsure of what caused the sudden outburst. He knew she couldn’t see the staging area, as the server’s light didn’t extend that far out, so his sadistic plans remained a secret. He could do nothing now than stand and wait out her storm. 

“Oh and KRIFF you, Skywalker! You had Talon adjust my schedule so that I could manage a bulk spice shipment with you? What the hell was that about?” 

Luke lets loose a breath and smiles, “I needed a reason for you to be out of commission for a day or so, in case anyone followed me here tonight. Having a rapid drop-off deal witnessed could potentially derail my entire livelihood, so forgive me for covering my tracks as best I was able on such short notice, Mara. Look at it as earned time off. I’ll deal with Talon and the phantom shipment later. Nothing for you to be concerned about.”

She crosses her arms and drops a hip, “nothing for me to–for kriff’s sake Skywalker, I AM the one losing profits here, too! I had client meetings and deals scheduled, I mean...you are aware that not every credit gets funneled back into Karrde’s pocket. I work on something called commission, perhaps I could tell you about it, in great detail, during one of our blissful days together.”

Luke laughs at that and drops his head, chin resting near the top of his black blazer. He was surprised it had taken Mara this long to lash out at him over the shift changes he’d orchestrated with Talon earlier today. He’s also laughing at what she might come to think of this entire situation in three days’ time, knowing credits or Talon’s opinions will likely not matter a whole lot.

“So I pay you for your time, you deliver what was promised and we go our separate ways. Maybe then you’ll feel less agitated with me? Speaking of, I’d like my Spice now. It's late, and Eldratz takes a little longer to kick in, as I'm sure you’re aware.”

Luke held out his palm, his real one, and waited, looking deeply and long into her eyes, senses primed for any action that may or may not occur. 

“Well?” 

Mara let slip an exasperated sigh and closed her eyes. She said nothing and...she didn’t have to. 

Luke’s arm drops to his hip and he moves, inching himself closer to her. The darkness is coiling in and around him, hissing at his heels and stabbing at the tips of his fingers. Biding its time, the growling, suppressed animal had grown bored and frustrated, and Mara’s reticent behavior was another fallen tree laid atop his future pyre. That is to say, the dark side was tired of being refused. 

“You don’t have it, do you? You never intended to get it either.” 

Jade shrugged, “I can’t do that to you Luke, I can’t. I–all those things I was forced into doing to you years ago, I can’t offer you a dangerous spice and not expect to see your face splashed over the Holonet. Only not for getting caught but because you...lost your life to a drug I hand-delivered. I’m sorry.” 

Luke’s head lolled to the side at Mara’s admittance, his pulse elevating with every fevered beat. He wanted to grab her arms and thrust her to her knees, bound her hands, cover her eyes and secure her to the durasteel wall. He wanted to make her solicit him into action, make her cry and suffer the same as he did. 

The creeping shadows were _begging_ him to do that and more in response to her unfounded betrayal, but his rational side was ordered to the forefront at the last bitter second. 

“Why did you bother showing up tonight, Jade? Why waste your time meeting here? If you cared about anything you’d ever done to me, you would have given me what I asked you for. In six years I’ve never requested a single thing from you, never came looking for answers or closure. So tell me, why? Why did _you_ come here tonight? What were you hoping for?” 

Mara had placed herself away from Luke, putting a few feet between them on account of his very firm, albeit very quiet, outburst. She felt...fearful of Luke for the first time, but knew she couldn’t admit to this. That’d be the last thing Mara Jade would ever do. So she did what Mara Jade _would_ always do, and fought back. 

“I came here hoping to set you straight, Skywalker. You, Luke Jedi Master Skywalker, asking for a deadly, highly addictive spice product to help you, what, rest at night? And you came to me expecting that’d I’d procure your wants and fulfill your needs like a grassland Loth-cat. You expected me to give in because of our murky past, didn’t you? Well, I don’t care a single credit for you but I am concerned about the Jedi in this galaxy and **you’re** the one who teaches them, **you’re** in charge of showing them the ways of the Force and how to be one with the light. And now you want to risk everything and everyone, for what? I couldn’t allow that to happen–I won’t. And neither should you.”

She pinched her lips together and stood, hands on hips, chest heaving and eyes feral. Luke wanted her more than he had ever wanted anything but he forced his thoughts back onto the timeline and how to adhere to it. After focusing, it became the only line of clear thought resonating and guiding him, like a flight beacon calling him back to Home One. 

“Mara, If you don’t care, why would it matter if I overdosed?” It was all he could say and all he could do to continue easing his influence onto her. 

He had started using the Force on Jade when the darkness had come to him a few moments earlier in their discussion, and though he knew he could have stopped the moment his rational mind had taken back control, he didn’t. Luke kept pressing on her, easing himself into her thoughts and clouding her judgement, one blood cell at a time. It was undetectable and had gone completely unnoticed, and soon, she’d be exactly as he wanted and needed her to be. _Those_ were his needs and wants. Not Eldratz, never that. 

Mara huffed at his question and spun away, walking out towards an abandoned group of plasteel chairs and filthy, forgotten glasses. Some of them had a foul-yellow sludge lining the inside of the glassware still, all these years later. She was tempted to sniff the contents but thought better and instead, sat down in one of the sturdier looking seats. 

“It matters because your death would spark mass controversy surrounding the Force throughout the galaxy. Controversy unnecessary and completely illogical. People close to you would be left wondering if the man they knew all these years had more Vader in him than they realized. Citizens from every system would wonder if more could have been done to save you, or investigate so deeply into your past that it’d–”

Luke interrupted and pointed at her: “it’d lead them to you. To Palpatine and the Empire and that cell you kept me in.” 

Mara said nothing as she stared at him, replied by folding her hands into themselves out of indignant anger. There could be no show of remorse, not with Skywalker. “Yes. It would eventually lead them to me. And I...I can’t have that. That’s not my life. I’m not _that_ person anymore.” 

The darkness swallowed Luke like an Wampa’s embrace on Hoth. His arms felt lighter, hands stronger, mind free from every doubt he’d had about bringing her here. The electricity snapping at the end of his limbs was _visible_ –he had never seen its manifestations before this moment. Luke never believed he had enough of his father in him to create such raw, dark power. His eyebrows lifted in response and he knew now was the time. _That_ was it, what she said was the fatal tree that had fallen into itself. 

His pyre was constructed, its flame licking at exposed, deceased flesh, the echoes of his past no longer torturing him. 

He smiled as he walked to her, smiled as his right hand stood out from his body, tiny jumps of charged blue light illuminating the shadows as his fingers coursed directly towards her. Those green eyes lit up with absolute fear and Luke’s flashed yellow for the briefest of moments. The darkness had come home after six years, eight months and nearly twenty-four days. 

As Mara slumped forward into oblivion, nearly falling to the ground, Luke laughed a spell. 

Mara Jade was unconscious. She was his now.

+

Luke sat off to the side of the plasteel mat that Mara was currently laying on top of, his fingers twirling around a stray strand of flayed twine. He was calm again, the shadows having receded.

She was still unconscious but wearing all-white now; the Jedi studied the scene closely: her wrists were restrained by a pair of stun cuffs, pulled taut above her head, her ankles roped, though separated from one another and secured to the durasteel bars mounted on the wall, lastly, Mara’s abdomen was held down by a bantha-made strap bolted to the floor beneath her anchored form. Jade had no drugs in her system and he had not placed any Ysalamiri above or around the room, so Luke understood the need for vigilance. He would monitor her, watching for any and all signs of disobedience to come. And those signs would come. 

He had brought that special outfit for these three days, as it was hand-stitched to her exact measurements–a complete replica of the one he was forced to wear while under the Empire’s supervision. Beneath the Empire's iron fist. 

The first tells of her waking occurred about two hours after he had used the Force to lull her into a deep sleep. The lightning had gone but the rage lingered on; she admitted to being afraid of his hypothetical death not for the loss of life or the sadness that would sweep through his family, not even for the ethics that would be called into question about the Jedi and its leaders but rather...for her own sake.

Mara was worried that those who sought to know more about Luke Skywalker in the event of his untimely demise, that those seeking to understand why he would _commit such a useless, selfish act_ would stumble upon her role in his disappearance nearly seven years ago. Sure, it was common knowledge that the Empire had taken Luke for those numerous months, but outside of that, majority of the details surrounding his kidnapping had remained sealed or Luke had never fully divulged. 

And it was more of the latter than the former. 

Luke had shared nothing, not with Leia or Han, not Wedge or Callista, about what had really gone on in that prison cell. He saw no reason to give the horrors a place in his family's mind, especially since he had decided a few years after his escape to repay Mara for every favor she had gifted him back then. 

All but one. 

He wouldn’t brand her. Unless the dark side consumes his soul completely would Luke stoop to those depths. As of the current moment, he was confident the Jedi in him would rule victorious. 

“If you th-ink you’ve not gone t-total Vader, you’re w-wrong, Skywal-ker,” Mara garbled suddenly, lips sticking together, tongue dried and patchy from disuse. 

Luke’s attention snapped to the here and now, and he stood and moved to where she lay; glancing down, he was careful that his body didn’t block the overhead lighting from her eyes. She hadn’t earned that yet. Perhaps she never would. 

“You’re awake, good.” 

Luke made a single loop around her person and unhinged the top clasp of his fitted black jacket. His dressings looked heavy and thick but they were made for flexibility and optimized for movement, hence he needn’t remove any clothing for what was planned on this, their first night back together. 

Mara shifted her head with each of Luke’s steps, attempting to follow him and keep up the appearance of being unafraid. But the Force was good to Skywalker and he saw her fear as though it were paint dripping down the walls, coating each and every last bit of space it could reach. She was transparent and obvious, but he’d play along and see where this game of hers might take them.

Stepping away in a quick set of movements, he returned and placed a straw into the side of her mouth, offering her a few sips of water. She accepted without hesitation. 

“Thanks. And Skywalker? If you wanted a Galactic Empire of a good time, all you had to do was ask...” 

Luke smirked, released a small laugh before nodding, “I suppose I could have done that, but then where would all the unpredictability go? You said it yourself, you’re nothing if not unpredictable, so I should expect you’d be a bit more excited than this.” He pointed a finger from head to heel and stopped circling her when he arrived at the rope holding her feet apart and tight to the wall. 

He finished her water drink and tossed the empty cup aside in haste. There were no hidden drugs being fed to her and Luke wanted Mara to know this truth. 

“I suppose you’re expecting me to, what, procure your wants and fulfill your needs?” Mara asked, recalling and quoting herself from another one of their earlier conversations. Luke smiled, “something like that, yes. Only we can forget the spice. I never wanted Eldratz, although it does sound like one hell of a good time, don’t you think? Anyway, I’m certain you can see I just wanted...you, now.” 

Jade’s brow pinched and she looked away from him–there was true fear growing inside of her, although of what, Luke wasn’t entirely certain yet. He _could_ poke around her thoughts and pull it out if he wanted to, but the verbal dance they were choreographing was much more entertaining. 

“What are you afraid of Mar–ah, I wouldn’t do that, if I were you…” Luke paused his speech and used the Force to nudge her back into acquiescence, as she had begun to focus her own energy into releasing her hands. 

But Luke was part of a genetic line far more powerful and they both knew it. There was no question that this was fact, and so she could do little else but bang her head on the matted plasteel and groan in frustration. 

“What am I afraid of? Well, I think it’s pretty clear, don’t you?” Mara twisted her wrists around, scraping bits of skin in the process, hissing as the metallic sting bit painfully into her. 

“No, not that obvious, actually. You tell me...what fears do you have right this moment? Be specific.” Luke asked this as he was planted, motionless, by her opened and separated legs. The twine he had been playing with earlier during her Force-induced sleep remained wrapped around a few of his mechanical fingers. “Go on, tell me, share. Don’t be afraid to talk to me, _Jade.”_

Mara lifted her head and looked down at him situated between her limbs, noting the anger that dripped off of each of Luke's words, the last of which held the most. She remembered then, _the brand._

“I’m afraid no one really knows you. Least of all Organa and Solo. If they had, I doubt I’d be here, kidnapped and held against my will.” 

Luke gave neither warning nor indication before skillfully lowering his body on top of hers. It happened so fast and yet, he was careful that no part of him touched any part of her; his palms laid flush off to the side of Mara’s ribs, the tips of his boots situated by her naked feet, firmly set and elevating him. His mouth was level with her own, their eyes trained and fully focused onto the other. 

“You’re right, Mara, no one knows me but you. Not where it matters. But I’m guessing every man you’ve been with since me hasn’t known you much either. Have you ever bound or burned any of them? Have you ever made them suffer in unimaginable ways? Tell me the truth, Mara. Or no, better yet, do you remember what it felt like, having me inside every part of you? Do you remember forcing me to beg you? Or how I tasted?” He whispered that last part, mouth so close to hers he nearly gave in and submerged himself fully and completely. 

But he was playing the long game, and now was not the time to indulge. 

Mara lifted her chin, those emerald orbs squinting in defiance, even now. She taunted him, wanting to know how far she could push before the moment was gone. Yet, despite her brave face, Jade's heart was running away on its own, her physical body responding to Luke’s words regardless of the fresh anger rising to the surface over this man. 

“And what if I told you I did that to every single one of them, what would you say, Skywalker? What would you do?”

Luke smiled at her brazen retort before descending; he pressed his lips against the sensitive skin of her neck, to the place where her pulse betrayed her confidence, beating wildly out of control, “I’d say you were lying. I’d say you’re still trying to get a rise out of me. I’d say I like it when you do that.” 

Luke gently bit at her throat before placing a soft kiss onto the reddened flesh there; he moved away quickly afterwards, lifting himself off and breaking the moment apart. He was excited now, there was no denying that, but he didn’t care for appearances, and it was nothing she hadn’t seen hundreds of times prior to this. 

But Mara knew an opportunity when she saw one and this was no different. 

“Excited to see me, or is that just your lightsaber?” Her teeth nibbled on the bottom corner of her lip as she followed him around her. He was walking and making slow, circular loops once again. 

“Hah, good of you to bring lightsabers up, actually. I’ve always enjoyed yours, Jade. Violet. It suits you. Bet it would look striking near that flaming red hair of yours right now. Let’s see, shall we?” Luke stepped away and into the shadows and for a brief moment Mara considered trying to free herself again. That was until she heard the sound of a saber being activated. She traced the noise and found it was hers he wielded, glimpsing a purple light floating among the darkness. Luke’s leather-gloved hand was holding onto its hilt, but it all appeared so disembodied that the scene itself stopped her cold. 

“You’re afraid I’ll hurt you with your own lightsaber? Really?” Luke probed, sensing sudden uncertainty through the Force. 

He emerged from the darkness and held the still-lit saber near to her, “I was right, its deep violet next to that red of yours looks brilliant. I’m not surprised you chose to keep Palpatine’s _gift_ for one reason or another, and I don’t really care to know why, only that I like this look on you. Perhaps we should duel one of these days?” 

Mara nodded a bit too quickly, sacrificing her ever-present confidence and an incomparable self-assured attitude, but the situation was unique. “Is this on the agenda for one of our days together? Or will we be talking the entire time? Oh. _Ohh._ Good job covering your tracks with Talon, by the way. He’d have wondered where I was had you not...which is exactly why you did what you did.” 

Mara rolled her eyes and allowed them to close, turning away to face the opposite direction of Luke. The gravity of the situation settled into her gut like warm Huttese ale and for a moment, a very fleeting moment, Mara didn’t know how she would work her way out of this. 

Until she did. 

She’d play the game that had been started all those years ago. That’s what he wanted, wasn’t it? Why Skywalker had gone to such trouble to be alone with her. He’d never _actually_ harm her...would he? 

“Trying to figure it all out, aren’t you?” Luke asked, deactivating her weapon and walking it back to where he had originally pulled it from. He ascended the few steps and stood, again, down by her bare feet. “It’s not what you think, Mara. It can’t ever be what you think. Anyway, I like that you wear it now. Before you didn’t, you only carried your blaster back then...” 

He paused, “I’m also intrigued by that tattoo you have…seems particularly unMara.” 

Forest-green eyes snapped to his ocean-blue and she stared, awaiting an obvious explanation. “I changed your clothes, remember? Well, you wouldn’t, would you? But I saw you and I saw it. Peculiar subject and body placement, don’t you think?” 

Luke unhooked the fastenings that lain on the inset of his jacket in descending order, slowly pulling them apart one by one. The blazer, now split down the middle, revealed another layer of ebony. Skywalker made no effort to remove either of his garments, instead shifting closer to Mara once more. 

Kneeling down beside her left breast, he loosed one of her wrists from the stun cuffs with the Force. Guiding the newly freed hand up and under his clothes, Luke bit his tongue in an effort to stave away the ache left by her fingertips as they trailed a line of embers in their wake. 

Reaching the intended destination, Luke wasted no time pressing her palm down against the scar he had chosen to live with forever. Luke could feel Mara wanting to look away, to deny any guilt or responsibility but he admired that she didn’t–he didn’t want to believe she would ever show such weakness. 

What he wanted was for her to feel him, to feel the brand and so that's Mara would do. 

_The game,_ she told herself, _it was the game._

_Right?_

__Her hand remained, their gaze focused and souls irrevocably linked, and Luke was suddenly torn in half between the light and the dark. He wanted to punish her, to hurt her and to see that hurt play out. To hear her cries and watch as she begged him. But Luke needed more than just punishment – he longed to touch her, gently and purposefully, to feel her. He so desperately wanted to _feel_ again. _ _

__Pushing her hand hard against his damaged skin, Luke’s voice rose to a feverish pitch, “You did that to me. I didn’t want you to do that to me, Mara. But why...I don’t underst–why did you tattoo yourself with … _that?_ Tell me why!” He pulled her hand off of him and out from under his shirt, returning it to its waiting cuff. He was losing control and spinning and Mara could see it. _ _

__She needed to defuse the situation, to calm him down._ _

__“I did it to remind me, Luke, to remind me of _you._ You think I forgot those days? How could I forget any hour I spent...hurting you. I told you, I’m not that person anymore.” She went with honesty versus playing their dangerous game, to ease his anger but also because she owed him as much. _ _

__“Can I ask you something, Luke?”_ _

__Two eyes fell into themselves as he turned and stepped a few paces away, his covered hand grabbing one of the durasteel restraints he hadn’t used. Yet._ _

__“Mmm,” was all he could manage, Luke's mind fractured between the past and the present. Between light and dark and balancing the weight of impulse versus patience._ _

__“After all this time, why haven’t you have the brand removed?”_ _

__Flashpoint. Luke spun around and ripped open Mara’s shirt, exposing her completely from navel to neck. He stood crouched above and reached a hand down, grasping her throat and tilting her face to meet his own._ _

__The idea of her permanently wearing his former defeats as a point of pride was infuriating to Luke; how could she demean and belittle him, still, after all these years? How could she, how _could she?_ __

__“Why do _ **you**_ have the exact amount of days I spent in that Force-forsaken hell etched into your body and–and in the SAME place that you branded me? One hundred and sixty-seven days, Mara! One hundred and sixty-seven days I spent at yours and Palpatine’s mercy. Why _**why**_ would you tattoo that? To remind you of me? No, I don't think so. You have to do better than that, Jade. Tell me the truth or you won’t leave this place looking the same way you came in…” _ _

__Horror warped her features and tore Mara down to size in a matter of seconds. _This man wasn’t Luke, this can’t be Luke…_ she screamed over and over in her head, fully convinced that any answer she’d offer up could never make amends for all she had done. Would never rationalize his pain. _ _

__Luke’s fingers wrapped infinitesimally tighter around her throat–she could breathe but the pressure was mounting. “Let me go, I’ll tell you the truth if you just let me go.”_ _

__He did._ _

__But he didn’t move from where he stood, spun completely out of sorts and wide-eyed, like a wild thing flailing, strung up and sucking down its final breaths._ _

__“I had the number, **167** tattooed into the same spot on my chest as your _Jade_ because I know you, Skywalker. I knew you’d never get rid of that brand and I know you see it every day and every night. And it fuels you, doesn’t it? It fueled this whole master plan of yours, yes? I knew the moment you stood behind me in Coruden that you’d never moved beyond what happened between us, and how could you? But Luke, listen to me, how could _I_ have moved on either? This tattoo owns me–moves me to keep to the Jedi teachings and maintain my presence within the light. Be-because I know what can happen when I don't…”_ _

__Luke’s brow pulled in on itself and he released a breath of air he had held for far too long. She was right, of course, he knew that, but what did her being right have to do with anything in the here and now._ _

__“You want to hurt me, Luke? Do it. If it makes you feel better, then hurt me.”_ _

__Luke ground his teeth and dropped his head at the resignation laid bare in her words; breathing in and out to steady his thoughts, he hadn’t realized his exhalations had chilled the skin mere inches beneath his mouth. Her breasts were flushed a full pink, nipples fully hardened... and he wanted so badly to taste her._ _

__He could allow himself just this moment to ...feel. He could and she would._ _

__“No, no that’s is not how this is going to go. You do what I tell you to do, you take what I give and you speak if I ask you to speak. Isn’t that what you said to me, Mara? For one hundred and sixty-seven days. I will hurt you, but there are different kinds of pain that don’t involve violence. That tattoo of yours–you want to be reminded? Then I’ll remind you.”_ _

__Luke righted himself and headed towards the wall, grabbing a bantha-skin flogger and a Taun-Taun bit._ _

__“This is day one, Jade.”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the AMAZING love–I can't express how much your comments and words mean to me! As a side note, I am on Twitter – @jadedskywlkr – and tweet with inspo and chapter status updates. I also tweet Mark Hamill a bit and enjoy snarky convo. Follow if you'd like and give me a shout out if you came from AO3!


	5. the serpent and the storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 12 hours into day one Luke and Mara go through their own versions of hell...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> •••• WARNINGS: physical contact/striking, anal and vaginal fingering, foul language and dominant behavior

The skin on Mara’s backside was raw and shivering with heat, a fresh, furious-looking shade of red living there now–the result of it being repeatedly handled. Not that Luke could classify what he was doing to her as “handling” but nevertheless, that was the way of things. 

His anger had reached the flashpoint, as Luke feared it might, but he never suspected that three tattooed numerals would be the root cause of it. Or Mara’s perverse attempt to defuse the situation by addressing him as ‘Luke’ versus her customary ‘Skywalker.’ Everything had compressed into a single point of energy and the residual blast was surprising, even to him; Luke had always believed Jade’s indignant, rash attitude and impervious confidence would be her downfall. 

It wasn’t. 

And so she was made to suffer on behalf of the ink that was needled onto her as well as the failed attempt to _bond_ with him; he didn’t want her to get inside of his head, had not yet bled space enough for her light to break through. Luke was far too deep into this abyss, reveling in the night that lulled his trauma and righted wrongs from the past. He moved within this limitless fluidity, taking advantage of every length of leverage he held over her. Skywalker would allow her no respite, just as she had withheld from him all those years ago. 

“More?” 

Her eyes folded shut, head falling to the right and the left, once, twice, before she was able to maintain a healthy level of rational thought. Mara was disheveled by pure lust and an unwelcome confusion came to her mind as a product of it. Her heart was racing, breaths coming in shallow heaves; a track of sweat lines cut valleys down her smooth, made-over cheeks, scarring the cared-for surface with watery droplets of black. 

She appeared used up and spent, just as Luke had willed it to be. But he wasn’t blind to the fact that she had basic needs of her own, “do you need to break for the ‘fresher again? Tell me now.”

She ignored him and rolled her eyes which was answer enough. Though, he wouldn’t soon forget her silent insubordinations any more than he could forget the Aurebesh letters burned into his torso, and she’d be made to pay for all these little bite-backs in time. “I’ll take that as a _‘no, thank you, Master’_ and we’ll move on.”

He dropped the flogger and settled by her center, resting the bulk of his weight onto onyx boot heels; after hastily severing the top half of Jade’s white attire, he followed up by methodically rearranging her bindings. It was in an effort to display a heightened level of control, of which left Mara with zero room to refute. And Luke held it close to him now, wrangling any stray impulsions wholly and completely. 

With two legs lifted and pulled apart, and each knee bent and secured to the sides of her breasts, Luke relied on this control now more than ever; these new fastenings offered him a view of Mara’s fully exposed body and it was taking every ounce of self restraint to remain focused and aware. This rope-rig also assisted in keeping Jade fully immobilized: each of her calves was pressed against its own thigh and tied off at the joints. Any residual rope length was attached and secured to plasteel floor panels, where he could adjust the strength and tension if he suspected any subtle changes. 

Despite the scene that was laid out in front of him, Luke had yet to indulge. 

So he knelt there and watched, silently, observing the high rise and fall of her chest as she breathed shallow and sharp around the metallic bit. The flesh on her rear kept to its red, wearing a shade of crimson not unlike a Tatooine sunset–and yet it wasn’t broken or bruised. Luke inhaled deeply at the sight of her opened and settled just there, directly in front of him; his tongue ran a smooth path across his lips as he imagined what she might taste like–would it be the same as before? He was eager to immerse all of him into all of her but the timing wasn’t right. Still, and without thinking on it ad-nauseam, Skywalker removed his leather glove and threw it to the side, wanting to feel her with both artificial and human hands.

Wanting to, _needing_ to, but he stopped himself at the last possible moment before contact. He slouched, plagued by self-defeat and for once wished the darkness would descend upon him during an absence of anger. 

It didn’t. 

“You _don’t_ want any more? Are you certain, Mara? From my perspective, it sounded a lot like you enjoyed the way I was handling you...” 

Mara tried to speak over the cylindrical bar separating her lips, but all efforts were proving futile. “I can’t make out what you’re trying to say. Shall I remove this?” Luke inched his body achingly slow up and against hers and once he met her gaze, every point of focus was directed onto her mouth. Using a single finger, Luke drew a wavy line across the durasteel bit, a near inaudible squeak and squeal filling the air between them. 

“You're making a mess of yourself whenever you try to speak…” Smearing a droplet of saliva and a stray bead of sweat, he followed two piercing green eyes as they watched him watching her. Luke had never felt so alive; as if he were close to death and the finality and impermanence of every heartbeat echoed inside of him. He couldn’t share this sentiment with Jade, though. 

“I don’t like seeing this in your mouth, Mara, but rules are rules. If memory serves me right, I was only freed of a gag to partake in meals or _actual_ interrogations–not just the kind that involved the gap between your legs. 

Guilt assaulted Mara and she looked away in response, face turning as far from his as possible before the restraints began to gnaw at her flesh. It wasn’t that great a distance, but she’d risk a bite from the bindings rather than look into those taunting blue eyes for another second.

“So you'd rather I left it as-is...understood.” 

Luke lowered his head until his lips nearly rested atop the intrusive durasteel; he almost licked at her, the desire to taste and _feel_ clouding his judgement for the second time in as many minutes. But to give in this one time, would threaten an atmosphere he had worked so hard to manufacture and maintain.

“Tell me the truth: do you want me to stop?” 

Luke didn’t wait for an answer before pressing his hardened center flush against Mara’s opening; lungs exhaling long and slow, his body was ready and aching for a truth only she had ever revealed to him. 

The Jedi Master wasted no time proving his dominance; rolling his hips and pushing onto her, he hissed as the zipper on his trousers nipped at hardened skin. The sound was nothing more than an inconvenience but the metallic bite resulted in fire tearing through his veins like a serpent’s venomous poison. Incapable of full coherence, Luke worked through the moment by gritting his teeth and bowing his head to focus all energies elsewhere; he wanted to see their bodies so _close_ together, wanted to fully realize a fantasy spend the last six and half years pining over. 

Mara’s eyes flashed open as she heard him fight against himself, an inadvertent reaction to _his_ actions – looking on as Luke knowingly hurt himself was not a thing she expected to see on this day. But her own inferno ignited within, detonating every flammable bit of fear he had constructed inside her mind these past twelve hours. 

And she understood her role for him then, knew what it had taken for Luke to get himself to this point, here, in this abandoned cantina with her. 

She was a pedestal for Skywalker, her body a temple and Mara knew he would worship there if she allowed for it. He just had a disturbing way of telling, or showing, such truths...

Mara Jade felt stronger, the confidence to know she could make it through anything the Jedi might throw her way empowering her; this former Emperor’s assassin was more than capable of pretending and so it wasn't a stretch to allow him this false penance for the time being. 

That was the plan for the immediate future, at least. But plans seldom go as expected. 

It was a strange thing that started to present itself the longer Luke pressed firmly onto her center: Jade’s physical self appeared to betray reason, hips vainly trying to arch up and down in time. Her legs were shaking in a valiant effort to fight the restraints, aching to warp around his waist. It wasn't long before she forgot all sense of presence, absent-mindedly submitting her body to Luke’s without realizing it. 

The games were on, they were off, the lines of control blurred and tossed aside. She wanted to hate him, wanted to despise this air of entitlement he appeared to have with her. Jade imagined exposing his dark side to every corner of the Galaxy, sharing who Luke Skywalker _truly_ was and behold the residual ruins in every final and lasting way. And yet, lying there, Mara didn't want this _thing_ to ever stop between them. 

Despite her confusion and exhausted state of mind, she refused to lessen the impact of their exchange, and what it meant, within her. The entire experience was pure madness; it was as if someone had shattered an entire glass of water against a mirror set ahead of her–Mara could see it all happen but the image was distorted, unrecognizable even. 

So she let go. Her eyes dropped and as she moved as much as she was able, returning all that he thought he might take from her–and that was the moment everything ceased. 

Luke stopped but didn't make to move from where he was, still perched on top of her. He glared with wild, unblinking eyes and a blown pair of demon-black pupils; appearing more like a feral animal, it was no surprise to find that the darkness was baring its teeth, hungry and angered from repeated disuse. It had come home and Mara felt it.

“You don't get to want me, Jade. You’re not allowed to do that. _I_ take you, I give to you or I don't give to you. Perhaps you need reminding?” 

Reaching to his right, Luke’s hand closed around the flogger that he’d tossed aside a few minutes earlier. Glimpsing this, Mara shook her head in protest and tried to speak, a shameful look crossing her face as a line of saliva dribbled down her chin. 

“Here, I’ll get that for you…” One finger, aesthetically matched to him but fully robotic beneath its surface, ran over Jade’s damp skin, brushing the spittle away. 

She didn't move or break under the slow work he made out of cleansing her, didn't dare breathe too deeply for fear of shifting the tides. Luke was the one responsible for any changes that occurred between them, always would be so long as he held tight to his control. After, he took that same finger, now damp, and lapped at it once, though never fully submerging it into his mouth. 

Ocean blues fell closed as memories from before barreled into him, “you used to lick the tears from right off of my face. Do you remember that? I would beg for you to stop–but no, you never gave in to what I asked of you. Not until that last day and I don't care about that. One hundred and sixty-six days you abused me, you _burned_ and made me your whore. That one hundred and sixty-seventh day doesn't matter in this room. You should have known as much before ever agreeing to meet me in Coruden that not everything would have been what it seemed.” 

Luke’s anger was rising with each and every word, Mara could see it, sense it, despite her disconnect from the Force. _The Force_ but, no, she didn’t dare think of reaching out to It right now. Wouldn't. She’d end up in deep space, either dead or so incapacitated that living a semi-normal, smuggler’s life would cease to exist. 

Mara had no doubts that Skywalker could, and would, kill her if she pushed him to that place beyond reason and rational thought. 

“Kill you? You think I'll kill you? You'd rather die than get flogged on the ass?” Every once and again Luke would listen and meddle around in Mara’s thoughts–the pronounced ones were especially easy to pick up on, and this most recent tendril had resonated like a sonic boom throughout his mind. It revealed itself as a mix between panic and consideration, but it was just another game he didn’t mind playing for the time being. 

A game she was, quite literally, bound to lose. 

Luke remained knelt between her legs, his stiffened and readied form mere inches from her. He gazed down, raising the ebony-leather handle above his head, and stopped as he were. 

“You need to understand, Mara. You've had all your fun with me, have played every last trick. And I told you, there are many ways to torture a person without introducing violence.” 

A slap echoed throughout the cavernous walls of the Sleeping Rose, but it wasn't from the object in his hand. It _was_ his hand. Luke smacked Mara’s right rear cheek and gripped it, hard, “I used to wake up coming all over myself after a night spent with you teasing and biting at me. Did you know that? You must have, because somehow, I was always clean to face the agony of another day. Speaking of, I’ve come prepared with soft soap and Duragel – three days we’ll be in here together so it was needed.”

He waited, following a tiny droplet of perspiration as it rode the natural contours of her face before disappearing off to the side. Now that he mentioned that particular recollection, his desire to know the full truth was all he could focus on. 

Shifting upwards and slithering over her again, Luke unfastened the Taun-Taun bit, pulling it from between her mouth, slowly, so as to not damage the stretched skin of her lips. 

“I'll give you water in a minute. Answer me: who bathed me in that cell?” He waited, giving her time enough to catch her breath and swallow fully before pushing on. 

Time was up. 

“Jade, who bathed me and changed my clothes and wound dressings everyday?” She looked at him once, too quickly, before lowering her eyes to gaze at anything else but him. 

Luke’s voice dripped with conviction, “you, it was always _you._ ” 

Standing straight and silent for the moment, Luke stepped away from Mara. It wasn’t long until he resumed the habitual pacing from hours before; he circled around her sedately, like a sea serpent trained on its prey, body poised and prepared for the attack.

“So... Every **single** day you would work me over, bruise and cut and hurt me. You'd slam _me_ inside of you again and again until I was on the edge and then you would stop, smack or pull at my testicles and start right back at the beginning. And I used to wonder at night–or whenever the kriff it was that you allowed me rest–how could you live with the choices you made?” Luke punched a fist into his chest and then turned his anger loose onto the wall. 

The durasteel bars didn't budge or resonate with the tells of his fury but the chains rattled and whips fell to the plasteel flooring. He didn't bother to retrieve them. 

She’d earned every last one of these tools and more. And he would use them, that was absolute fact. 

“I laid there and worried about how **you** lived with yourself, not how I might survive or escape with a beating heart and my mind still intact. I see now how incredibly foolish that was of me, and yet here I am, here _we_ are.” Luke quiets down but visibly shakes, hands grabbing frustratedly at his hair, his ocean eyes sinking beneath the storm that was raging between them. “ _Force_...I’m using word games and subtle touches to prove my point and it's not working, is it Mara? You still think you can control me, don't you?” 

Luke’s right hand shot out and the flogger took to the air, landing in the center of his palm seconds later. He didn't hesitate or look to her for permission or reticence, he simply brought the leather down onto Mara’s sore backside. At the same time the leather made contact, velvety-black shadows came from behind and beneath to shroud him completely, wrapping Skywalker in its frozen embrace. 

The Jedi Master accepted the abyssal pull and smiled as he made to strike her again, watching first as the whipped skin changed from a snow-white to a Red Guard-red within the blink of two blue eyes. 

Luke nearly did it again, came dangerously close to hitting her with all the seething power of the dark side at the helm. But he stopped as soon as he realized what he done and released the leather object immediately; time ceased to exist and everything began to move impossibly slow, as if Coruscant had simply given up on spinning itself round and round. 

He could do nothing during this lapse in reality but look on as Mara let slip real, true tears, watch as her eyes shut and as hope ran away from her with each frustratingly long second. The flogger eventually touched down on the white matted floor by his boots, the sound like rolling thunder inside of Luke’s mind. 

He fell to his knees. 

“No, I said **no**...” The structure of the building vibrated, and a deep cold permeated the air, as if every line of pipe or transparisteel tabletop resonated with his anguish. Mara hesitated before turning to speak to him, indignant at first, but fully understanding how serious the situation had become. She found him sat on his knees, palms facing skyward, as though he were waiting for cuffs to be shackled onto him. 

She was angry with that Luke had succumbed, but the greater good was at stake–Mara Jade’s personal feelings were of no consequence for the exchange happening at current. _Just_ this one time, though. They would revisit this moment, of that she had little doubt. 

“Skywalker, l-listen to me, okay? Just follow my voice. I know, alright? I know you’re unsafe with yourself, I can see the darkness within you, but it doesn’t have to be there, it shouldn’t have to go on like this…” 

Mara tried, really tried this time, to understand his position while simultaneously showing him a modicum of compassion; she feared for the safety of more than merely herself if Luke Skywalker lost his humanity, or his restraint. Since meeting him all those years back, there had never been a day where Jade hadn’t lived with this gut feeling surrounding his power and the DNA that existed within. He was timed explosive device. And now, she could foresee an cataclysmic end coming to pass. 

He was unstable and dangerous, exhausted from fighting a war with demons that had no names, and no business living within a man like Luke. 

“Come back to me, look- _look_ at me... “ Jade whispered, her voice calm, full of that familiar strength Luke had secretly admired about her. 

He turned to her. “Focus on my eyes, hear to my voice and follow it back.” 

The darkness wanted to humor her, to play the game and see it to its next round, but the light was far too illuminating–Mara’s influence _was_ winning. But, no – Luke wouldn’t allow this to happen, couldn’t allow such a travesty to be, could he? The abyss questioned itself for the first time, as though it were a sentient being existing in time and space and not merely a metaphysical concept. 

Luke felt this shift inside of him as his focus held firm to those forest-green eyes and flaming red hair. But he concealed his tells as he steadily crawled to where she was, understanding her placating technique now that he was back into the light.

“You’re ensuring your survival, you think I can’t see that? But I’ve told you before and I’ll tell you again, I won’t kill you.” 

Mara huffed and knocked her head against the mat that lain beneath it in exasperation, “dammit Skywalker, I’m just trying to help you, can’t you see that? Enough with the prepared speeches and crazed, intimidating talks, I know you mean business. Look at me for kriff’s sake…” 

She paused to squint down at her naked and exposed body, wincing at the throb pulsing across the spread of her rear. She frowned and looked away; without realizing it, Mara was obviously trying to shy back from the truth of the matter. That her sex was opened and wholly available for use at a moment’s notice seemed to suddenly weigh on her–as if up to this point, Jade had refused to understand the full gravity, despite all evidential proof on hand. 

And yet, she wasn't without reality–it was a dichotomy of unknown proportions and a balancing act she was only now attempting to familiarize herself with. And Luke, well, he needed to be appeased and subdued, so Mara resigned herself the duty and swallowed her embarrassment. 

Perhaps that’s what they were to one another, tools that were meant to serve a greater purpose, a fuel to feed the other’s hunger or the comfort that came with knowing how dangerously deep the dark could truly go. 

But Luke wasn’t finished with her yet, had not even fully started, really. As he now had a little under sixty hours with his guest remaining, he’d be damned if one moment of weakness would deter him from everything he had worked so hard to create. They were lost to the sea and the point of no return had passed hours ago…

So Luke continued on, snapping himself back into the here and giving her a long once-over. The view reignited his lust and now that the fervor had subsided, he was returned to the haphazard plan at hand. 

“You know, Mara, I’ve always enjoyed looking at you, this part especially…” Luke’s right hand slipped down between her legs, palm cupping her first before feathering a single tip over the soft nub that awaited him there. His finger came away wet, glistening from the smallest touch, “is this what you’d like from me? To be gentle and whisper sweet nothings? To make love to you? Is that the kind of man Luke Skywalker _should_ be in your eyes?” 

Mara stifled any words she might have spoken and shrugged her shoulders infinitesimally, uncertain as to where Luke was taking this. “I could have been that man once, Mara, but you ...you and that cell ruined any chance of that. Did you know that I ...I tried to be with someone a few years back? Have I ever mentioned that to you?” 

Luke was speaking and while Mara wanted so badly to pay him every last ounce of attention, for her sake, the two fingers inside of her were more distracting than she’d care to admit. He was arching them forward, pushing up and into her to feel as much and go as far into her as he was able. “Her name was Callista. Complicated story about that one, but I tried. I thought maybe I could marry her, have a few kids and spend the rest of my life tending to family life and the Jedi Temple. In theory it sounds unnervingly lovely, doesn’t it?” 

She didn’t respond vocally, opting to nod instead; his index and middle fingers were busy still, sliding in and making perfect circles around her opening whenever he would ease them out. But it was when the side of his thumb began to rub north and south on her clit that she finally betrayed her stoic attitude and...moaned. 

He stopped at that, of course he would. “Could you imagine me, with a couple babies bouncing around... and a wife? No, not with this darkness and light living in tandem, knowing that one is inextricably linked to the other.” 

He laughed at that before his eyes glazed over. Mara’s eyebrows lifted, seeking direction or a subtle tell to discern Luke’s disconnected pause. He was...thinking? About children? Or Callista? 

“Yes to thinking, yes and no to the rest.” He half-smiled and winked at her before tracing a sphere around her belly button, clearly mulling a decision around in his head. 

“There’s something I always wanted to try–well no, that’s not an accurate statement, not really anyway. The desire dawned on me after I had accepted the fact that you would take whatever you wanted from me all those year ago. Once I realized the cold, hard truth of my situation, I decided to adopt a bit of your sexual sadism. I've wanted to experience a certain thing with you that was never once mentioned in that Force-hell...”

He bit down on his bottom lip and waited, eyebrows raised, for any reaction from Mara. Her red and gold hair shifted just so and Luke understood then that _she knew._

But he wasn’t a cruel man, and so he wouldn’t deny her the inevitability of what was to come. “I want to be inside of your ass, Mara. Tell me: Have you ever had a man that way?” 

Luke didn’t wait before pushing three of his fingers deep, back into her already-primed chasm, “I need them coated and dripping-wet, don’t want to hurt you if you’ve never–” 

Mara bucked her hips and squinted her eyes at him, “you think you’re going to be the first man I’ve ever had in my asshole? This isn’t some unmapped star system, Skywalker. Go right ahead, fulfill your devious little wish list from the time before.” 

Jade huffed and faced the opposite of him, but Luke knew her better than she believed. “Ah, I see. So this _will_ be your first time, won’t it?” 

He spread his left hand out over the soft skin below her navel, an act to steady the minute tremors that were rolling through her, head to heel. 

Fingers warm, wet and ready, he pointed one and pressed it into her unhurriedly, giving pause for her body to adjust and allow him entrance. She hissed and clamped her eyes shut, muscles tightening and visible panic set in. “No, don’t fight it, relax your body, Mara. Or fight it and it’ll hurt. I don’t care either way.” 

She bit her tongue and locked her eyes with his, hoping somewhere within that broken and muddied sense of humanity, Luke would help get Mara through this for _her_ benefit. Or that his actions – all of them – would somehow turn out to be one incredibly large, unfunny joke. “I don–” 

“Quiet or I’ll put the bit back into that pretty mouth. Shut your eyes and allow yourself to feel. This is the one and only time I’m ever going to take it easy on you, Jade.” 

Without warning, Luke stopped and eased his pointer finger out from within her, hastily retrieving a hidden canister of Duragel. He had stowed it by the wall rack and every time he came across the small bottle, he smirked reading its advertisement: _“DG! Your Easy-Clean Antibacterial Gel, (because you never know when you’ll need to DURAGEL it!)!”_ He thanked the Force he had considered all facets, even the smallest ones, when concocting this great scheme and now was no exception. 

He sanitized his hands and fingers first before coating and wiping down Mara’s openings; allowing her to air dry offered him time enough to think back onto what he had just said to her about allowing her body to feel. 

_Jade._ A vision of his branded chest is what caught him off guard and prompted him to stop penetrating her. The rage that had burned away after the Force-meltdown attempted to trickle back into him whenever that name echoed within his mind. And now the truth of his scar was flooding him completely, like thrashing waters cascading into him during a great hurricane.

He felt a fervent need to be freed of his onyx jacket; Flexi-cloth or not, Luke wanted her to see his body, to see the mark all these years later. Mara had to understand what she took from him to understand why he would do the same in return. 

Both hands were holding steady at the hem of his shirt – this would be the first time anyone since his fiery smuggler would glimpse the damaged flesh. His marked skin. Not even Callista was given the chance to see it. Only the medi-crew on Home One knew of its existence, and they were sworn to secrecy once he had healed and been released back into the Alliance’s fray. Outside of those few souls, there was no one else who even suspected he’d have such a scar. 

Luke was tired of hiding the brand, of shrouding it away and fearful of every touch that _may_ or may not come to him. But, no more–he let go of his hesitation and reveled in the sudden freeness that filled up his emptied, hollow bones. 

Pulling the black tee up and over his head, Luke sidelined it before looking down at the visible marring that caused him daily heartache. He was more than just this scar though: his body was lean with an impressive physique and a definition he had worked tirelessly to maintain – it was obvious Luke had kept up on himself, as a Jedi Master should. But Mara wasn’t looking at the cut of muscle or the impeccable shape of the man poised above her. Instead of admiring, or even acknowledging, his sexual appeal, Jade’s forest-green eyes bored holes into the center of his chest. 

Her name. 

It had been six years, eight months and twenty-four days since Mara had last glimpsed the brand she had seared into him. And it was still too soon. 

“No, look at it Mara, no one else has seen this, no one but you, me, and the two-person medi team that helped to heal me after I had been found. So take a good, long look. It’s disturbing, isn’t it, or perhaps you enjoy this bit of your handiwork?” 

She nodded to no one before taking it all in; the letters formed a near-flawless scar insofar as its shape and outline, but the replacement tissue that had grown there was mismatched and onerous to look at. When the brand had healed, it changed that part of his flesh into a messy shade of pink, a scattering of white appearing in patches. The palest areas, though small, were difficult for Mara to stomach; these were the parts of Luke where pigment had ever returned to the skin. 

And it was her doing. She had done that to him. 

It shouldn’t be there, she knew that, knew every day since he had made it out of the Empire alive that it had been a mistake. And yet, Skywalker had chosen to keep it. 

Mara almost inquired about this decision a second time but recalled the sudden outburst from half a day before and thought better of it. Best to move on and focus on current events, or how to get oneself _out_ of said events. Mara excelled at that, which was also precisely how she lived her entire life–from moment to moment. Some of those included Luke, most of them didn’t. But she survived because it was all she knew how to do. 

This situation, the one Luke had created just for her, was no different. She would acquiesce and placate and give the illusion of submission, because that is what would allow her to walk out of here the day after next. And because there was nothing she could do otherwise. At least nothing just yet. 

She had been too quiet for too long and though Luke didn't seem to mind the silence, Mara felt uneasy and needed to level the energy exchange. Still slightly embarrassed by his abrupt cleanings and her overall exhibitionist state, being reintroduced to one of her deepest regrets also wasn’t helping her psyche any. 

“I...it’s bigger than I remember it.” Sighing inwardly, Mara inwardly berated her lack of articulation and weak-sounding self assurance. But in that electrified moment, she couldn’t think of anything else to say–what _could_ she say? 

Jade had tried to push on with this one-sided conversation, instead going for an unimpressed approach – the idea was to judge his reaction and go from there. But Luke spoke first, signaling the end of her awkward, guilt-ridden inner monologue. 

“It’s exactly as it was the last time you saw it. Completely healed, but it’s the same Jade it's always been, isn't it?” The implications behind his words were biting, and Mara knew immediately what Skywalker was trying to do. She didn't acknowledge this verbal punch, instead her eyes squinted to slits, mouth formed a tight line – all signs enabling him to find validation within. 

Her reaction wasn’t what he expected, but Luke knew this was no accident; Mara was betraying no other but herself with these frigid and firm retorts. He chose to move beyond her lousy show of false emotion, despite the flare of anger it elicited, instead opting to kneel down and settle between her legs for the third time in as many hours. 

Resting his forehead on the cool skin of her abdomen, Luke closed his eyes and worked his fingers once more into her willing slit. Two of them pushed inside with little resistance before easing out, drawing a heavy sigh from her as he went. He repeated this push in–apply pressure–ease out rhythm again and again.

He didn't wait to hear if she might say anything further on his scar, but couldn't stand to look into those emerald eyes a moment longer – the past was too vivid just now, too alive in the space between them. 

Luke needed to implement a change and shift away from a mutually shared, and sufferingly dark, past and all the anger that it brought to him. He wouldn’t redress into the black shirt, no. The past can be stepped away from but never forgotten and this entire experience with him, here, now, would serve as her reminder. 

Ready to move forward, always ready, Luke borrowed a moment first to marvel at how easy it was with Mara. He changed his position and hovered above her, mouth centimeters from two ruby-red lips still recovering from their bit separation. He thought of the purple saber blade positioned beside her hair and smiled at how complimentary he suddenly felt... 

Whispering now, his curiosity over Jade’s consistent physical response towards him came to a head, “you were always so ...ready for me. Even if I wanted it back there in that cell, I never had to wait and you never needed extra time to get _there_. Is this you, or is it me that makes you this… wet?” 

His fingers were still embedded inside of her, thumb pressing against that soft nub as he asked his question and Luke watched as Mara became a prisoner to her own lust. 

She was unable to speak, lost to the waves that carried her out to sea, whole body aching for Luke to _have_ her. To give her what she knew he wanted to take. Mara tilted her face in an to effort to kiss him but he snapped away while simultaneously fighting to repress a scowl. **“No.”**

He nearly fell back and away from her at that, inadvertently abandoning her core in the process. Luke wasted no time though, righting himself and pushing an index finger into her rear hole again; he didn't give any pause or suggest for her to relax, she either would or she wouldn’t. This was just another game being played, a show of power versus control and Luke would ring victorious in–“ahhh…” This new exhalation of pleasure escaped unbidden through Mara’s lips, but it was a struggled and hesitant sound. As he knew it would be. 

This was not Luke’s first time with a woman this way. 

But _oh_ the way it felt to see her bent to his will. For Luke to be a part of her again, even if it was only a single finger, was blissfully intoxicating. Two blues closed into themselves as he reached maximum depth, the penetration drawing such a bone-deep shiver that it vibrated through the ropes that kept her. “Mmm, tight, Mara, so tight. You’re going to push me right off the edge the first time I kriff you, you know that, right?” 

Jade pushed her chin up in a flash of defiance, acting against him for no other reason than it helped to stave away the slight burn of embarrassment right then. She _knew_ the moans and sighs of pleasure were condemning her but Mara couldn’t stop them even if every last credit in her bank was at risk. But she could sound like, well, what Mara Jade might sound like had this been any other man but Luke Skywalker. 

“Well, then what are you waiting for, huh, Jedi?” 

Luke murmured a laugh before looking down at the slow work he was making of her rigid rear entrance. “Going from your cunt to this ass is a world of a difference. Not to imply that you’re in any way loose, because you’re not, but you’ve had your share of men since me, haven’t you?” 

Mara gritted her teeth and then yanked down on the cuffs circling her wrists in irritation, “I’ve kriffed ‘em ALL since you, Skywalker. Talon, Ghent, even tried throwing my Sabacc cards at Solo once, but your pretty little Princess of a sister–“ 

It happened so fast: a skin-on-skin slap echoed through the emptied halls of the Sleeping Rose; Luke’s left hand stung from striking her backside, but his anger had already begun to ebb. She was trying to get him to that place where he’d regret, and while her efforts were commendable, he wasn’t going to give in to such petty last-ditch appeals. 

“Anyway, I _thought_ I was lessening your chances for potential pain but if you’d rather I skip that in favor of forcing my cock into you, by all means, tell me now.” Luke waited, but was met only with a deafening silence that carried throughout the wide surrounding area. She was still upset and reeling from the second strike to her fleshy bottom, and Luke knew her stubbornness was in charge. “Alright then, have it your way…” 

Just as he started to pull his right arm away from her, fingers slipping one small bit at a time, Mara resigned and let her head descend to the floor below it. “No, don’t… Just keep, keep doing …that.” 

Luke smirked. Darkness coiled at his heels, hissing for him to dominate her, to push beyond the limits of what's safe and painless and get what he came here for. To show her how agonizing the will and influence of another can be. But Luke remained in control, completely, and the dark side was pushed away, remanded to its shadowed corner. There it would bide its time by lying in wait. He knew where to search if any fear or doubts weakened his resolve, and that was enough for the time being.

Luke never liked the way it felt when he lost even the smallest measure of control, not just earlier tonight, but as a general testament to how he lived his life. Here with Mara Jade was no different, and the genetic profile he carried every day and night needed reminding of this now more than ever. 

“Good choice. It’d probably hurt me, too, if I tried to push into you before loosening this firm little hole…”

Mara smirked at his comment, the anger from earlier all but forgotten in favor of her own well being. Her confidence seemed to return home for a brief visit though, “oh well, thank you kind Master, it’s much appreciated.” 

This time Luke exited his finger from within her, fast, and using his artificial palm this time, slapped her rear again hard, eliciting another yelp and leaving a matching handprint in its wake. “See how that sort of talk isn't helping you here, Jade. It’d be best if you kept the sarcasm to a minimum.” 

She couldn’t help herself, this was ...unexpectedly tolerable. “Or else what, Skywalker? You’ll flog me again? Smack me harder with both hands at the same time? I only have one asshole and it’s feeling pretty stretched out at the moment.” 

Luke grinned then paused to squeeze a few healthy drops of Duragel onto his hands, cleansing them before the next round. After, he stood and stared down at her, he was introspective but not aggravated or tense. Walking a few paces away before reaching the supply and restraint area, Luke stealthily picked up three objects off of a hidden shelf sitting above the wall rack. Two of them he placed into his trousers pocket and held tight to the third with both hands. 

The smaller ones were custom-made from the durasteel flooring of an decommissioned Super Star Destroyer, simply cut but the message behind their existence was bare for anyone to see. The other was long and electronically powered, and he smiled, nearly laughed even, as he read the name on the side of its box.

“Have you ever heard or seen this one on the market before, Jade?” Luke held the box vertical, showcasing to his bound guest the name and image adorning its packaging. 

Mara tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, “ _you_ paid for that?” 

“Gladly, I did. Well, not Luke Skywalker but rather a man fitting my general description who has an adventurous wife he loves to please.” He sat off to her left and placed the box onto the floor behind him. 

“But first, these…” 

Slipping the tiny objects from out of his ebony slacks, he held them over her face for her to see. “I've neglected your breasts far too long since we've been here together and Mara, I am truly sorry for that. Allow me to make up for it?” 

Luke laid over her, like a lover might, and moved his mouth so that it was directly in line with her left nipple. “I could never decide if I wanted more or less of you at the end of those days. I believe it was the former and looking at you now, well, I think that confirms it for me.” 

He covered her with his mouth, lips kissing and tongue lapping circles around her perky flesh before biting and drawing her out fully. He could have spent hours here, all day even, but this was all done to serve an end goal: the clamps. 

Luke sucked a little longer before releasing her, bringing his right hand over and snapping on a piece of the Empire’s regime without ceremony. He’d fill her in on their origins another time…

A hiss, a sharp intake of air and Luke nearly opened his trousers and took her right there. _‘Not yet, not yet…’_ He didn't turn his face skyward to see her, couldn't bare it, instead moving across her chest to ready her other half. His eyes caught sight of the **167** tattoo as we went, and Luke swallowed, repressing the memories that would no doubt live on in another day. 

He repeated his exploits, tasting and coveting Mara, while bringing the rosy-pink bud to a fevered rise. Her breath came in heavy bursts, chest rising and falling in a mismatched rhythm. He completed the scene with the second and final clamp, and reached for the unopened package on the floor. 

Placing the box between his thighs, he opened its lid and exited the item inside. It was wrapped in an inky-black shroud that hid the contents until torn open. 

“I thought its name was clever when I saw it, almost couldn't believe a company would manufacture anything so blatantly Imperial. But the sexual industry is known for its sordid affairs, so perhaps it's not all that big of a surprise.” 

Removing the sizable vibrowand from its sheath, the Jedi held it up for Jade to see. It was painted in grays, blacks and a velvety deep purple, clearly a titan of the the sex trade and one he knew would have Mara begging. Begging him just as he had done with her. 

A darkness lain over Luke’s face, but it wasn’t the Force, no, it was...something far different. 

“ _The Emperor_ will see you now, Mara Jade.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out the chapters will be longer, filthier and contain MUCH more sordid business than what we see here in V. Exit now if it's not your cuppa – no hard feelings! (zing..)


	6. roses and rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Mara continue to share ...adventures together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter! Hope that makes up for being a week behind on posting...

A young girl was left alone on a training room floor. The space surrounding was expansive; the BTR, or Battle Training Room, was a true and empty void–a spherical, hollow building pumped full of chilled air that smelled of antiseptics. But there were no tremors to this girl, no visible signs that spoke of discomfort. She simply sat there and waited, breathing in, breathing out. 

She didn’t appear to be inhuman, no, in truth the girl was very much the opposite. Her aesthetics were quite vivid, one might even say they are bright: two eyes were shaded with the colors of Endor, and her hair was long, wavy, its hue nearly identical to the twin sons of Tatooine. Suffice it to say, this trainee was atypical to the Empire’s norm. All things considered, she was a timid, frail looking thing, her lips sealed together and poise statuesque. 

Yet, she was none of those on the inside, not really. She wasn’t just her red hair and green eyes, and she certainly wasn’t small or inept. Mara Jade was a weapon being formed within the galactic forge, owner to a fierce bite and a tongue that could lash and scold the very mightiest of men. Save for one. The only man in her life: Emperor Sheev Palpatine. 

Sidious would make her wait like this, for hours some days, mere minutes on others. And Mara did it freely and without complaint. It was her Master’s bidding after all, and that was enough for the future Hand. 

Today was no exception; it had been over five standard hours since Mara had been summoned to her daily trainings and her bones ached to be put to use. The child with a furnace within wanted to be honed and sharpened, each skill broken down to its smallest parts before being mastered one by one. Jade wanted to conquer her Master’s enemies, to wipe clean the Rebellious blemish from the Galaxy single-handedly. 

Today was not to be that day, she knew, but that didn’t abolish determination or lessen her resolve when thinking long and hard about the future and her role in it. 

A single beam of light suddenly illuminated the space above Mara and she squinted once before willing her anatomy to adjust. She wouldn't be excused for little mishaps like that, so she commanded every point of focus onto the the here and now. 

“My young one.” 

The Emperor’s voice filled the cavernous curvatures of the round room, tones simultaneously balanced and strengthened with each length and lap they made. It sounded like thunder and felt like lightning whenever Darth Sidious spoke in here, and Mara knew that was one of the main reasons he had ordered the design and special construction of such an unusual BTR. 

The man was better than any other when it came to tricks of the mind and bending another's will, be it by force or otherwise. His Empire was a clear testament to this but Jade was far wiser than her years in being able to recognize his fact early on. 

“You have been in suspension, alone, here in this dark place.” 

Mara remained motionless and silent, knowing much more was yet to come. But her eyes tracked the end of his cape as it slithered across the smooth, diamond-polished duracrete just ahead of her.

Palpatine, as always, was sheathed in head to heel robes; on this day, they were midnight-blue, with his hands and face forever sunken in by the heavy fabric swimming around his frame. He circled her slowly, making loops one after the next, studying his pupil quietly as he went. To Mara, it felt as if Palpatine were judging the very blood that ran in her veins, seeking to control it like he controlled all else. 

“And tell me, what have you learned from the shadows that surround you? What have they _whispered_ to you?” 

He stopped pacing and stood directly behind where she sat, but the plasteel walls felt as though they had not ceased their own gravitational spin around her person. Mara knew now was the time to prove herself, as was always required, to her Master. So she willed the room to right itself within her mind, to grab hold of focus and to do it quickly. 

“Master, if it is thy bidding, it shall be done. An enemy of yours is an enemy of mine. Whatever you seek, I shall discover. Whatever you desire, I shall fulfill.” Something inside of her winced at the last, as it always did, but the Emperor never seemed to pay any mind to minor treasons like those. A part of Jade wondered if he had ever truly known how deeply just six spoken words of allegiance had affected her. 

“Do those whispers tell you to disobey your Master?” 

Mara turned her head around and aligned her eyes with Palpatine’s, “No, my Master, they never speak such treacherous words to me. I believe they know better than to do that.”

Sidious smiled and leaned forward, resting a cold, gray palm against the side of her youthful face, “Ahh yes, and yet here you are, having learned nothing of value.” 

Mara titled her head in question and swallowed the rising tension; a somber, fearful look etched itself onto her features and with each passing moment, her fear lapped itself. 

“Do you pledge yourself to me, my young one? Completely and wholly? Will there be no other to conquer your mind, spirit and will as I have?” 

Jade shifted, enabling more of her jaw, more of her _skin_ , to lay against Sheev’s frozen hand. “I pledge all of me to you, my Master. You have my mind, my spirit and my will conquered and there shall never be another.” 

Bile. 

Bile rose and rested in the back of Mara’s throat as she uttered the own words to her condemnation, and yet as much as she longed to ease herself from his grasp, she knew better than to turn away. That would incite a rage Jade wanted no parts blame in. And it was fact that the Force-sensitive youngling _did_ desire the knowledge and placement by Sidious’ side one day. 

Palpatine smiled his crooked best at the duality of true words and false intentions. He knew she served only him, and yet her heart was afraid–as it should be. He wanted nothing to do with her physical form but break it down and mold it into his greatest asset and most feared sword. She was destined to defeat the Alliance and all the treachery that bit at his heels, but that wouldn’t be for quite a while yet. Even he knew that. 

That didn’t stop Palpatine from using every moment they shared together to reaffirm her loyalty to him. 

“As your Master, you will do as I instruct you to do, think as I demand you to think and act as I command you to act, is this understood?” He was walking once more, faster now, his face hidden by the folds of those famed hooded robes, two hands clasped tightly against the small of his back. 

“There is much still for you to learn, and yes, your lessons shall continue in time, but this is the moment, right here, right now. Mara Jade, will you pledge your life, your very existence, to me?”

Sidious’ steps halted north of her position, and just a few feet away, directly in her line of sight. Mara didn’t hesitate, didn’t think twice or refuse the darkness that slowly began to embrace her; it felt cold and gray, like her Emperor–a familiarity that reminded her that _this_ was home. “Master, I am your weapon, I am your shield. I am to be as you will it.” 

Palpatine nodded and then turned his attention skyward before, “you understand, young one, that there will be missions or operatives that require you to submit to my every demand, to acquiesce to any request, no matter how varied, unusual or...painful they be.” 

She watched as a grin pulled two ice-blue lips apart, muscles forcing his wilted cheeks to rise–that signified that he wasn’t done speaking yet, not by any standards she had come to learn. Mara had taught herself to recognize the moments in which her Master would tease a situation or feign free will unto others. It was laughable, or would have been, were she not the one he was directing such trickery onto. 

“Yes, Master, I understand. I am yours, I am yours.” Repetition had the power slow his games but could also end up pouring fuel onto an ever-burning fire that raged within the Emperor. Mara knew this and decided she’d take that chance anyway, as it appeared to be the only availability suitable enough for the time being. 

Palpatine laughed, so much so that his head fell back, mouth expelling a cackle so maniacal and hollow, Jade felt feverish shivers descend and slither beneath her skin. “You believe you have a choice, do you? That you take requests from me and have the option to deny me? Oh, you foolish little soul, I see now there is much work that I’ve yet to do.” 

He stepped forward so quickly, it almost appeared as though time and space had bent to the Emperor’s rule. Mara wouldn’t have been surprised to learn if that was actually what had happened, but her mind was too preoccupied with the cloaked and looming giant poised right in front of her. 

“You **will** execute my commands and heed my every words. You will do this or you shall be no more. Say it, Mara Jade. Say it.” 

Mara made to rise, slowly, her knees and legs and feet feeling utterly absent, paralyzed by fear and a crushing weakness she was powerless to rid her mind of. But she made it upright, jaw firmly set and eyes focused on the two yellow orbs boring down into her. “I will obey and heed your every command, your every word, my Master. I will do this, or I shall be no more.” 

Palpatine laid both palms onto her face and nodded, “Good, child, good… It would do you well to remember this oath each time I call upon you.”

††

Luke held the vibrowand firm against Mara’s swollen nub; the head of the object buzzed and vibrated with a fervency that even he found impressive – it seemed it was true what people were whispering about: “The Emperor Has Risen!” The talk of it amongst Coruscant’s sexually adventurous was...strangely funny to him, and so he paused, indulging in just how laudable the situation really was, letting slip a small laugh.

Mara’s eyes tore open and her head shot forward, a fierce, surprised glare locking onto Luke. Beads of sweat disappeared into the dark crevice of Jade’s ruby lips, as her lungs struggled to keep up. Two inky-black pupils were blown wide, the spherical void erasing nearly all the gemstone that lived there. She fought to maintain a rhythmic, normal pattern of breath, but her body blatantly disobeyed the commands and will of her mind. 

Luke had control and Mara _wanted_ to seethe, but it...it all felt so… 

That **laugh** of his though. That taunting sound of glee and self-righteous pleasure Luke let slip did nothing but return Mara to a state of indignant behavior. For which she was more than a little grateful for. 

“You think t-this is fun-ny, Skywalker?” Jade stammered through her disobedient retort but that was all she was capable of doing; despite her outward, and inward, protestations, Luke knew she was enjoying this as much as he was, and things had only just begun. 

She was bound still, her body naked and ropes tied taut, remanding her to the position he had wanted for this express purpose. And others, too, of course, but _The Emperor _was _the_ beginning. “Given our shared and shaded history, you can’t deny my satirical approach or pretend not to see a bit of humor in all of this?” __

__He applied more pressure onto the humming device and then laid its long, painted plasteel shaft vertical on Jade’s clenched belly, so that its top narrowly touched the apex at her opening. Moving on top of her, the object now caught between their bodies, Luke collectively formed a stop-hold to the wands attempt at rolling off of her. While there, he pressed his hardened center down, forcing the _The Emperor_ further onto Mara’s sex, eliciting a favorable, albeit hesitant, moan. “Tell me how it feels. Tell the truth. Say it, Jade. Say it…” _ _

__The weapon had become the young girl again, as her mind fell into the space where both present and past existed within the same realm. For a moment, Mara wasn’t sure where she was; Luke’s verbal assertion was nearly identical to what Palpatine had asked of her all those long years before._ _

__It felt as though the Emperor were alive and well within the confines of this place–the man himself, not just a named object for desires to be satiated._ _

__Sidious’ demands echoed deep inside of her, reigniting an old fear and waking a level of obedience she believed had vanished. But the strength she possessed was not to be wholly undone; fury rushed in, replacing all traces of past submissiveness and ultimately snapping her mind back to the here and now. “Skywalker, you can take that vibro-head and put it in any hole you want. If you’re looking for me to beg, we’re going to be here a lot longer than three days.”_ _

__Luke was there, quietly listening to her empty words, lips so close and eyes nearer to hers than they had ever been up to this point. He didn’t want Jade to be wholly unwilling, those weren’t his intentions, but he also needed her to acknowledge the fact that _he_ held the Sabacc deck in its entirety. The cards would fall as he willed them to, not as she played. _ _

__His brushed his lips over a closed eyelid, then brushed them down the length of her nose, exhaling evenly to still his wild heart. A question plagued him the nearer he came to her. Swallowing, Luke bit his bottom lip before, “Open your eyes and look at me, Mara.” She did, jawlines flexing as a show to her annoyance._ _

__“I used to imagine what it’d be like to come inside of you. I still do, if I’m being so candid. That was the one thing you never allowed, the one thing I was so desperate for, aside from needing to come at all during our...sessions together, and you knew this. You _knew_ that game of denial came close to driving me clinically insane. And now I have to know, was it your doing or was the puppet master pulling the strings?” _ _

__The Jedi Master waited there, watching as unfocused eyes battled to keep with his, watching a tremor journey through her body as she laid bare and subservient beneath his own. The wand was doing its job and Luke was all too happy to see how much it was affecting her._ _

__A low growl came from Mara as she tried to stave off the inevitable, she distracted herself through words, hoping it’d help slow the need growing within. “Came close to insanity, Skywalker? Have you taken a good long l-look at yourself, lately?”_ _

__Silence came after a sharp inhalation, an endless quiet charging the air they both shared. Luke was aware that Jade was losing the fight, and his own body shivered in anticipation of the show. The ex-Hand hissed in heaps of air as her lips quaked; control was receding from her grasp, one cycle of vibration after the next._ _

__Mara bucked her hips in a last ditch effort, as high as she was able, then snapped her face away from Luke’s penetrating gaze. He responded by pushing himself, fully extending the length of his arms, before peering down at her; rose-pink skin climbed and fell in atypical patterns, the muscles in her abdomen were clenched and bearing down – Luke knew was was on the verge of happening._ _

__“Oh...no, not yet, Mara. We’ve got a few more things to discuss first…” Luke’s voice was bordering on playful, despite the durasteel bound-house setting that surrounded them. Pulling the vibro away from her and switching it off, he laid it down benevolently and proceeded to lean back and rest on the heels of his ebony boots._ _

__An exasperated moan flooded the halls as Mara came to terms with her first taste of orgasm denial. She was angry, fevered, her body feeling wholly out of sorts and completely neglected. She didn't like it._ _

__Staring, studying and thinking at her, Luke waited as she came back from the experience, silently reveling in the this new game he’d won. Having purposely ushered Jade away from ascending the full heights of human pleasure, her reaction – both the physical and the subsequent Force energies she emitted – had his heart racing._ _

__Her appearance did nothing to satiate his own needs though: her skin was dappled with perspiration, long mane wild and whipped, two feral and dark eyes gazing and far more deadly than he had remembered them to be._ _

__Luke loved that she didn't like it. Wondered briefly how she might handle five and half months of this, had he the means, or discipline, to do such a thing to her._ _

__“It’s ...irksome, isn’t it? Not being allowed to fall over that blissful cliff...so close and yet, so far away. But let’s not talk about your have-not’s, rather, let’s go back to what I asked you earlier: why I was never permitted to finish inside of you. Or at all, now that we’re getting to know one another so well. So, I’ll ask just one more time: Was it on orders or was the constant withholding a result of you being a cold-hearted slave, just like me?”_ _

__Mara bit her bottom lip, drawing a bead of blood in the process. Before she could lick it away, Luke’s thumb brushed over the droplet, wiping it from her. He lifted his hand and looked at the red spot for a moment, marveling in the sight, “I've never seen you bleed, Mara. Didn't think your blood would appear to be so...human.”_ _

__Mara slid her tongue over the broken skin anyway, tasting the rust, grimacing more from his degrading judgement than her own wound. Fight. She had to fight him now, that would be the only way to win his round._ _

__“I...I couldn’t stomach the thought of you spilling yourself into me. A Rebel? _The_ pilot who took down the Death Star? How could I justi--how could I have slept those precious few hours knowing your seed was buried in me? I’d never had lasted as long as I did if I, even once, let you have that.” She huffed and then blew out a lungful of air – undoubtedly an effort to settle such lying, nervous energy. _ _

__“I don’t buy it. How can you lay there and feign disgust when it was _you_ who ultimately helped me escape that kriffing nightmare? What changed on day one-hundred and sixty-seven, Jade? Tell me, because it wasn't as if you had spontaneously grown a heart.” Pausing, Luke fidgeted with himself, readjusting a very full and rigid member, so that it now pressed between the lip of his pants and the heated skin of his belly. Mara caught sight of him doing this and sighed, quickly looking elsewhere to stifle a fresh bout of lust. _ _

__Luke hadn't missed that and used a single finger on the base of chin to tilt her face back to his._ _

__“Why bother lying to me when you and I both know that won’t benefit your situation any? What could you possibly gain from hiding _the_ truth from me now?” Mara sighed, and then it happened without warning: she laughed. It started as a deep growl, a deadly rumble originating within her chest. It mutated into a wild and crazed sound; the cackle bounced off the cantina’s halls like a holoalarm pinging inside of his head. Luke felt the shadows slither into his bones, the electricity of the darkness lighting him up from the inside. _ _

__Anger made his blood boil at her sudden and inexplicable show of madness, and not a single heartbeat later, the shroud of darkness finally banished the light. Luke grabbed the Duragel, doused the fingers of his right hand with the smooth solution, cleansing them, before pushing two of them into her ass unbidden and unhindered._ _

__She hissed, the muscles in her legs reacting without thought as they strained against the ropes that kept her, “KRIFF, Skywalker, give a woman a little warning before–ahhh…” Luke didn’t wait for her to finish berating him or give pause when he placed the vibrowand back onto her clit. He switched it on and fought to contain himself as her aching, and still-empty core begged to filled. But the Jedi Master didn’t pay attention to her wants or the incoherent ramblings that flowed from her gaping mouth, no, Luke only focused on what he could _see._ _ _

__His pulse thundered beneath his skin as he marveled at the sights: Mara Jade, ex-Emperor’s Hand, bound and spread, with a pair of his fingers buried within unexploited territory. To top it off was, of course, the vibrating mechanical device named after the galaxy’s greatest nemesis, currently whirling against her swollen nub. “Unlike the days of our past, I have only a few reticent feelings when it comes to allowing you the pleasures you were too _disgusted_ to offer me. Perhaps I’ll make a point of what I mean?” _ _

__Luke went to work on her, immersing his thoughts so fully into the moment that the force overwhelmed all reason, causing him to almost take her sooner than he planned. But the Jedi denied it, as Skywalker always did, redirecting every ounce of desire and energy into the motion of his hands._ _

__Mara was powerless to cease the quake that assaulted her each and every time Luke pushed his fingers into her. A steady flow of sound poured from her, and Jade wanted him so badly she nearly cried out in submissive surrender. Her mind was screaming all the filthy nothing's that would get her off, but it was her hole, her dripping, aching core that wanted so badly to be filled by Luke._ _

__Jade knew he was more than appropriate for the task, possibly the only one, but she wouldn't dwell too deeply into that line of thought or any other for the time being. She needed only to accept the fate she had carved out, quite literally, for herself in that ebony prison cell._ _

__Luke felt a change in the woman beneath him. It was subtle and hidden beneath the fiery waves of lust and want, but it was there. He made a mental note to explore this exact moment in greater depth later on, when he would have a bit of time to himself._ _

__For now, Luke’s fingers slid inside and out, turning slowly, generously applying the pressure he knew her body would respond blindly to. Without breaking his stride, Luke added another finger knowing she could handle it and all sense of time seemed to stop; second lasted hours, minutes gone before he had known what to call them – time simply ceased to exist as a construct altogether. It was just Luke and Mara, no others, nothing from before and nothing to come after._ _

__But somewhere within, Luke knew the cessation was fleeting, that they would return to themselves and it’d be this room and the years stacked between would be there. Resentment and judgements, condemnations and anger would all return home, because that was better than acknowledging what sort of future Luke and Mara might have if they only..._ _

__Luke shook his head free of the static and focused on their present, offering Mara what he had begged her for during nearly of those one-hundred and sixty-six days._ _

__He looked on as she writhed and gave him her every best effort, trying to move with the rhythm Luke had set. But she was lost to the rising towers of ecstasy and he knew it._ _

__The Jedi wondered idly if she might be the type of woman to… perhaps…_ _

__Pushing his three up and applying just the right amount of pressure onto the top of her hole, Luke pushed and pulled his hand, watching his fingers slipping in and slipping out in steady beats. As much of a sight as it was to see his hand kriffing her, it was the rest of her that stole his attention from that point on._ _

__The emerald demon laid at his front appeared free of every inhibition now; ruby-red lips formed a circle as she moaned her appreciation and rose-gold hair whipped wildly as she tried to fight the center strap pinning her down. He saw she did this in an effort to arch her back and throw her head skyward, and Skywalker nearly came at the sight of it all._ _

__The fever was rising in her, sweat dimpled every inch of her skin as Luke repeated the pattern over and over again until _it_ happened. _ _

__Mara shouted loud and long, a guttural sound that emanated from the deepest chasms of her core. Her body went completely rigid as a clear stream of fluid exited from deep within her, partway splashing onto his abdomen, the middle of his trousers and the plasteel mat as gravity pulled it south. Her eyes shot open, and she looked down at the scene in utter confusion; the clear substance continued to drip and leak out of her in short bursts, as the tapering spasms from her orgasm began to ease the flow._ _

__It finally stopped and Mara found herself as close to speechless as she had ever been in her life. Not even the trainings she shared and endured beneath Palpatine’s heel had ever caused such a crazed mixture of emotions. She tried though._ _

__“Skywal...what just, did I ...what h-happened?” The Jedi sighed and allowed his head to fall, eyes set onto his pants and their freshly added wet spot. The drops that still clung to his belly were beginning to dry, but Luke was in no hurry to see them wiped away. It was just as surprising to him as it had been for her, and so he wanted this new memory to linger on, to stay here._ _

__Idly, he started to wonder what she tasted like, even entertained the idea of actually leaning down and fulfilling his curiosity. Luke didn’t, but the concept of it all was teasing, tantalizing to a degree, and so he knew there would be a time in the future where he’d allow himself the chance to have this._ _

__In this moment though, Luke remained hushed as he allowed the sight of her to embed itself into him: she was shivering but not from any chill in the air, her head lulling to its left and right, teeth biting her bottom lip and eyes appearing permanently sealed shut. Watching her, Luke found himself wanting so many things: to have that experience happen again and again, and yes, to lay down and worship there, between her legs, as she came. Beyond all that, he wanted to be a _part_ of her, to be inside and feel everything she felt. _ _

__To fill her, in every way._ _

__Those thoughts were moments meant to exist at later time, thus leaving Luke to aid his own benefit and use Jade’s sexual response to him as an opportunity. Holding his fingers where they were, Luke moved the wand onto her belly where he switched it off, letting it lay there as Mara appeared to regain her sense._ _

__The jagged-black tethers of the dark side whispered and crawled towards him, pleading, pushing for him to enter her and relieve himself from the cruel burden of restraint – and Luke was dangerously close to doing this. But just as quickly as it had come, the urgency had lessened and gone for the moment, replaced with a one-sided satiation and a stillness that the darkness could no longer touch upon._ _

__It retreated to its hiding place, rejected and scorned by Luke once again._ _

__“Skywalker, what the kriffing damn of a hell did you _do_ to me? I...I didn’t even know I could do that.” Luke smirked and a puff of air was pushed out through his nostrils – close to a laugh, but not quite. _ _

__“Time for you to rest now, Jade.” Luke pulled his fingers out from within her and cleansed them before setting aside the Duragel and the vibrowand. She swallowed and sighed, “Hey, I never answered your question--” Luke was beside her within a saber’s ignition, cupping his palm over her mouth, effectively silencing her while also ending the conversation before it had a chance to gain any ground, “Later. For now, rest.”_ _

__With that, Luke used the Force to nudge her into a deep sleep, shutting down her mind and easing the tensions that had built up, and would continue to do so, between them. He had a few things that needed tending to, not the least of which was Mara’s overall condition. They had been at it for nearly fourteen hours and it was time for a wash and a change of position, lest he risk permanent damage, or worse. He wouldn’t do that to her, despite what she may or may not deserve._ _

__Walking away, Luke took a shadowed incline up, heading towards a hidden wash basin where he retrieved a handful of supplies stowed and set aside for this very purpose. There were washcloths and towels, scented body soap, hairwash gels and a cleansing mouthguard that would see to all of her hygiene and dental needs._ _

__Filling a matte-black half-sphere with heated water, he carried both the stocked bucket and the mini-basin back out into the darkness of the cantina._ _

__With a makeshift ‘fresher in one hand and a sterile bucket holding the materials he’d compiled and readied for use in the other, Luke sat down, quietly, off to the side of her. Beginning with Mara’s right leg, he disengaged the rope bindings and their paired durasteel connectors, placing the links down gently and looping each length neatly into itself. He repeated these same actions with her other leg, both arms, and the mid-torso strap, laying it all flat beside the other used contraptions._ _

__The last things remaining on her body were two durasteel clamps still pinched onto her nipples. He looked at them and for a moment thought to leave them as they were, feeling the waistband of his pants tighten at the mere sight. _‘Later. There’s time for that later, Skywalker.’_ _ _

__Resolved, he unclasped them one at a time, going gently so as not to rip any sore or sticky areas she hadn’t had time to complain about. Luke felt remorse over not paying much attention to these mini-playthings, but they would be cleaned and readied for use in a few short hours – there would be time for them, and his indulgence, later._ _

__Laying the clasps alongside the other tools, straps and objects he’d finished with earlier, he stole a standard minute to take a deep breath and assess his guests appearance._ _

__With the nipple clamps removed, Mara’s teats wore a furious shade of crimson and Luke made a mental note to be, of all things, gentle when it came time to wash her breasts. She hadn’t done anything to warrant such behavior but Luke wasn’t about to hurt her while she slept. That wasn’t his angle, nor his intentions, when he employed the use of Force-induced oblivion._ _

__Thinking on the days he had spent as her submissive, tortured prisoner, he remembered having never once woken up to new injuries with Jade; in five and a half months, she had made his every waking moment a living hell, but as he slept, Luke suspected all of her sadism ran empty._ _

__So if nothing else, Luke decided to use her own example as a guide for what to do here. Sighing to no one, he gave her a once-over and allowed himself to marvel at how beautiful she truly was._ _

__If things had been different, maybe they...but, no. And yet, _what if?_ _ _

__Completely bare of all restraints now, Mara laid flush against the semi-soft white matting, her body in a visible state of rest, breath coming and going in steady, rhythmic patterns. In the sliver of his _what could have been_ moment, an image of him laying down beside her entered his mind – but it would have been little more than an experiment to see what sleeping beside to the woman who had caused, or been the root cause of, so much darkness in his life might feel like. _ _

__Luke did not do this, and the idea of it was concerning to him; he didn’t want to feel affection for this woman or allow her presence to cast any more shadow that it already has, but after what they had just experienced together, his thoughts were muddied and uncertain. He had given in and pleasured Jade in a way he was almost sure she never had happen with another man, and that fact alone was causing an internal struggle to rise._ _

__He looked himself over again: bare chest and the _Jade_ scar as always, his black trousers and matching leather boots. He wasn’t excited at the moment, but the spot where she had squirt onto him was still damp and now cold to the touch. _ _

__The notion of that was numbing to him; when Mara had come, when her body ejaculated fluid onto his person, Luke had never been so at war before._ _

__On one side he felt victorious for bringing her to a higher level of ecstasy than anyone else had ever done, but on the other, he wasn’t sure she deserved it. And that part of his mind disturbed Luke the most – if she shouldn’t have been granted such an experience, why did he give her one?_ _

__Luke could only surmise that it had more than a little to do with their _entire_ history and not merely the sadist times with her Empire. It was fact that they had not been acquaintances after his kidnapping, but Jade had never once gone out of her way to make his life worse in the time since she helped him escape. _ _

__But that one right didn’t undo the thousands of wrongs, and that’s where Luke found himself stumbling in all of this. She did not deserve to orgasm, let alone experience a feat so pronounced that she would compare everything else that came next, to that moment going forward._ _

__There was truth behind each of those two sides; yes, the Jedi Master had felt drawn to her the day they had “met” all those long years ago – before the prison cell, before her sexual games and his drug-induced submissiveness, before she had branded his skin and shattered his heart. A single incoming holo transmission – a threatening one at that – had found Luke mesmerized, despite his duty to the Rebellion._ _

__And then everything that happened in between and up until this exact bit of time. Now? Now Luke was seeing more to Mara Jade than he had ever believed existed._ _

__He didn’t count her bare body as part of this new-found take on his former torturer, no, it was her heart that Luke was beginning to glimpse for the first time. _’No, don’t get ahead of yourself, Luke,’_ he whispered within the confines of his mind, knowing that those meandering impressions could find him on his back, on this very mat, and her, scorching another part of his body for the sake of justified retribution. _ _

__Luke wondered though, if the situation was reversed, would Jade pick up where she left off? After everything was said and done, she had been the key element in Skywalker’s great escape, so it wouldn’t come as a shock if she never again picked up the iron._ _

__Then again, there was no answer offered when he inquired about his repeatedly denied permission to finish inside of her. That unnerved him, still, and though he did refuse her when she attempted to speak on it, opting instead for a respite, he didn’t think the woman lying near to him would say much to begin with. Luke closed his eyes and centered himself, tapping into the energy flowing within to still the confusion and phantom scenarios manifesting inside of his head._ _

__He submerged a square washcloth into the warmth of the water and held it down, his hands and body appreciating the heated sensations as they seeped into his bones._ _

__Squeezing the soft cloth and twisting it slightly to minimize its soak, he held it over her belly and let it drip there for a few quiet seconds. He watched the liquid pool first in the tiny dip of her button, the skin there dimpling in response, and he wanted so badly to be wiped clean, to be free of the marks, the pain… to start again._ _

__It wasn’t to be, so Luke continued on as he was. Returning the cloth to the water, he warmed the fabric while rubbing a soapbar into and around it. It smelled as she did – like roses and rain – but when he bought it, it was more for himself than her. The scent was a reminder of that first moment, the moment where she gave him a pause, a halt, from the burning lights of his prison._ _

__It came as no surprise to Luke that he associated those two smells with a gravitational shift in their time together, and when Mara would eventually wake, he wondered if she would pair them as he had._ _

__The washcloth was fully lathered and he wasted no time cleansing her, putting his focus back there rather than on the ghosts of their past. Starting where the droplets of fresh water had lain, he worked his way from the middle downwards, pushing gently, caressing the soap into and onto her skin in a slow, steady fashion._ _

__He washed her thoroughly; each leg was wiped from top to bottom, its sides, her feet – he even cleansed in between her petite toes. It was during this that Luke noticed something there for the first time and he laughed, a real true laugh: there was red paint on her nails. A feeling that this was typical of her seeped into his bones at the sight of it, “You could destroy a man with a single glance, but you took time to pretty your feet. How human of you, Mara.”_ _

__Luke spoke to her as though she were awake and listening to him, finding this act somehow lessened the tension forming in the space between his shoulders. It was easier this way, and it dulled any lustful meanderings the dark side continued to murmur at him._ _

__He’d never cross that line, no matter how desperately he needed her. She was asleep, and all things considered, he was her caretaker and that was all _this_ was. _ _

__Mara’s bottom half was finished; Luke fought his way through the frustrating process of washing her wet and slightly flushed-looking core. Half of him wanted to see the sexual deviance of this act, while the other half tried to remain clinically sound. Luke followed his self-imposed rules and respected her body as she slept._ _

__Rinsing the cloth before wiping each part of her, he hoped the brief pauses would aid in the refinement of his control. Sucking in lungfuls of air and focusing on what was yet to be, the things he would do when she was fully awake, helped Luke complete this challenging task and move on._ _

__After exhaling long and deeply, he picked up where he left off. Sliding the smooth, bubbled cloth over the peaks of two bright-red nipples, he circled Jade’s breasts in precise fluid movements. All efforts being put forth to make short work of it. Breathing deeply and pausing to hiss away the shadows that crept behind him during such heightened moments of awareness, Luke felt control bleed into his bones._ _

__Reaffirming his own guidebook and denying the dark side its power, Luke swore to an empty cantina that he would do no harm. He had no fear of _it_ happening now, no fear of crossing any boundaries that need not be crossed. _ _

__He finished with the rest of her quietly: her back, rear, arms, hands, neck, collarbones, and face, and then folded the cloth over the lip of the basin for the time being. He stood, stretched his bent limbs and proceeded to walk back over towards the large sink._ _

__Discarding used, cooling water and cleaning the inside of the basin for the final part – her hair – Luke stilled himself in preparation._ _

__Turning the knob to activate the hot water, the silent Jedi yawned as liquid rushed into the half-sphere, filling it in a few standard seconds; the heat emanated from the underside of the bowl as he held it, its warmth seeping into his hands, promptly tempering any lingering fears. The last supply needed was a single glass to act as a rinse, so he reached for the nearest one and dropped it slowly into the hot water._ _

__Pacing himself for the short trek back to the plasteel mat, Luke thought on how the following fifty-six hours might go. In the beginning he had wanted her to submit to him, fully, in every possible way. He had wanted to hear her beg him for forgiveness and to be a willing subject for punishment because that’s what Mara _deserved_. And a part of him still desired those things. _ _

__But there was more now, more than just revenge or retribution, more than a battle for his soul or to live a normal life outside of the demons scratching around in his head. He ...didn’t dislike pleasuring her, nor seeing the stunned and speechless reactions to whatever he did from moment to moment. He even took a modicum of pleasure away from her quick-witted tongue and the fiery bite-backs whenever he found himself in a playful way._ _

__Yet, despite all the unexpected neutral-positives, Luke, still dressed in only his black trousers and boots, couldn’t fight the truth of their past: Mara had hurt him, irrevocably in some ways, and there was no apology great enough to ever change that. So he moved beyond the fanciful thoughts and back onto the sadist that lay asleep at his feet._ _

__Reaching for a towel he had included in the supply list, he lifted Jade’s head, clasping long lengths of sweaty hair before laying out the opened fabric beneath it. This would serve to capture and contain the falling water while preventing the rest of her body from being soaked. There was one other, set to the side, there for the express purpose of drying her once he was fully finished with the entire wash-down._ _

__Filling the glass with fresh, heated water, Luke started by Mara’s hairline and poured it slowly down and across the curve of her head. Her red and gold mane was thick and wavy, and it took two more cupfuls to wet it well enough for a pain-free washing._ _

__He weaved his fingers into her strands before realizing what he was doing and hastily stopping himself. Unsure and confused, Luke didn’t know why or what had caused him to do such a thing._ _

__Making the decision not to dwell and delve too deeply into his subconscious or conscious mind, he pressed the pump-release on the hairwash and filled half of his palm with the silky, scented gel. His hands were lathered, covered now with the cleansing solution before taking that last step and immersing them into a mess of red and gold._ _

__It was soft and pleasant, both the texture and the concept itself; he closed his eyes and allowed himself to let go just enough, massaging the gel into her scalp and working any knots or kinks as he went. In truth, Luke had little idea what he was doing when it came to caring for a woman’s mane, but this felt ...intimate somehow. As though he were growing closer to a part of her with each minute that passed on._ _

__An alarm sounded off in an abandoned recess within his mind, and he realized quickly that it was the aromas that were startling him. They were shifting the experience from a welcomed one to a state of weariness; the scent was pure intoxication and though he knew this would come, his resolve battled between the war of his past and a sudden hope for the future._ _

__He was struggling with this – Luke couldn’t breathe beyond the smells that were dueling; roses and rain filled and left him empty, so he thought it best to fever through as efficiently as he was capable._ _

__It was difficult and draining, to detach his physical self when all he held in his grasp were the tangible memories from the before._ _

__Rinsing away the bubbled-foam from one area at a time, Luke slid the supply bucket to catch any dirtied water that ran off the ends of her hair. Focusing all energies into his actions, he made a few more passes with the fresh water before emptying the bowl completely. Twisting heaps of her hair into itself, Skywalker used this method to effectively rid any lingering water from dripping down onto the waiting cloth below._ _

__The towel that had been set aside for drying was now all that remained between Luke and a few hours of rest before continuing on. Wrapping the soft material around and under her hair, he wrung out any remaining droplets before moving down the rest of her body._ _

__For the most part Mara had already air-dried, but Luke didn’t neglect a single inch of her as he roamed the towel from top to bottom. He finished the task in silence, collected the lot of ‘fresher items, the bucket, bowl and glass, before returning them from whence they came._ _

__At the sink he cleansed the containers, flushed out the washcloths and then threw the used towels over a small length of rope he had strung up for just such an occasion. He sighed and came to a pause, placing both of his hands on the edge of the counter and hunching himself over them._ _

__Luke was tired, and Mara would be asleep for a while still. He only had left to dress her and then the next three or four hours would be his to with what he pleased._ _

__By dawn, Jade would be awakened and ready to start anew._ _

__Shaking his limbs and loosening the kinks out of a few stiff bones, he retrieved another special garment to adorn his guest with. It wasn’t the white uniform from a half a day earlier, but rather a long, gray tunic that belonged to Luke. A piece he hadn’t worn in a number of years – nearly seven years, to be more precise._ _

__It was freshly cleaned and without ruin, but to the pair of them, this gray piece of clothing would be unmistakable in its significance: this particular article was the one Luke had been given by Mara on his first day as the Empire’s prisoner. It had only been worn twice: once during what he would later come to call his “holding pattern,” and on the day he had freed himself from the clutches of hell._ _

__The medi-center crew that had tended to him had wanted to destroy the tunic, but Luke hid it away before they had gotten their chance. It represented the beginning and end of an era no one could ever understand. No one but Mara Jade._ _

__Luke paused by the side of Mara’s hip as the past and everything it held rushed into him; frozen solid, he stood holding on to gray as his eyes glazed over and mind slipped into another place._ _

__This period of time, this “holding pattern,” comprised of a mere thirteen hours, was when Skywalker was moved to Coruscant by a one-person transport – the same individual who was responsible for kidnapping him._ _

__Upon his arrival into the belly of the beast, he had been drugged, restrained and promptly stripped of his Jedi robes. But it was the shroud secured over his head that lingered on as one of the worst parts for Luke; he would discover later that no one had seen his face during the _Galactic Empire’s Confidential Transfer Protocol,_ or GE-CTP. No Stormtroopers, no Imps, not any other soul. Just his solitary abductor and no more. _ _

__The memory of it was _almost_ humorous to him now, given the perilous events that transpired shortly after his stay had begun. But the lapses in memory and the failure of his Force-sense still haunted him to this day. A result to which found Luke recalling little else from the ordeal, save for the blaster shot that sent him into a vulnerable void. _ _

__He was angry that he’d never been given a chance to glimpse the owner of the discharged weapon – angry that there was only a split-second crack of sound that originated from behind Red Team’s mechanical station, and then nothingness. The stun came from out of nowhere, effectively dropping him into an oblivion without warning or preamble._ _

__On top of that, was the fear for the men and women on his team. Fear that his own squadron wouldn’t have realized Skywalker’s fate until too much time had passed was gut-wrenching; he didn’t want them to blame themselves, as he knew they undoubtedly would. Luke eventually had this theory confirmed a few months after the Empire’s “orientations,” information nonchalantly passed onto him that security footage from that night was destroyed an hour prior to and after Luke’s abduction._ _

__It stood to reason that by the time they went looking for their Commander, Red Five was already several star systems away._ _

__It surprised him though, how _she_ , his abductor, had bested him that night; when Luke had been taken, there was no battle, no fighting – there were only the sounds of silence and a hushed, lone warrior lurking in the dark, waiting to strike. _ _

__As per the norm, he had been busy tending to routine maintenance on his X-Wing – not readying his fighter or prepping Artoo for any nighttime rounds. It was just him, working in solace._ _

__Luke swallowed and begged the power of his will to return, and to stay, in the present. Gazing down at the gray tunic folded in his hands, and Mara directly beneath that, a low rumble escaped through his unsteady lips. The clothing felt heavy, so impossibly heavy, as if the entire mass of Coruscant were bearing down on him, crushing from the inside out._ _

__But his visions into the past weren’t ready to let go just yet, and as long as he stood motionless and holding on to a tangible link to _then_ , these memories would continue to come unchallenged. _ _

__Two ocean-blue eyes closed, then snapped open and the Jedi Master found himself sat on a durasteel bench, adorned in a gray tunic and surrounded by the darkness of his hood and tinted transparisteel windows. Though he had been oblivious to the latter at the time, Luke still shivered, honing in on a distinct presence – he was being watched. He knew this, despite how disconnected and unkempt he felt from the Force._ _

__As it would happen to be, he had been right: there had been not one, but two someone’s studying him then: the Emperor and the lone warrior, Mara Jade. The other thing were the drugs. A serum must have been injected into him at some point during his mindless expedition across the stars and when Luke recalled the gaping void where the Force used to exist, he damn near collapsed._ _

__Recalling those moments in such vivid detail, when Luke _knew_ someone had been watching him and his veins carried the absence of his power directly to his heart, was difficult to wade through even now, so many years after. _ _

___’No, no, Luke. Don’t go back there, not now, not ...now.’_ Dropping the fabric, he watched as it fell to the floor, and waited. Nothing happened, no star systems crumbled, no buildings toppled, it just...landed. _ _

__And Skywalker was returned. His head had played its last for the evening, and yet..._ _

__The cold of that memory was biting, even in this cantina, surrounded by not a thing nor a person who could harm him like those two humans had back then, he felt tormented. Having forgone his grip on the tunic, Luke looked down at Jade’s nude form, and felt... hesitance. Did he _want_ to give Mara the same, identical treatment? If he did, how would he feel at the end of all of this? _ _

__How had she felt at the end of his?_ _

__Surely it wasn’t reasonable, or plausible, to think that both situations were the same, given what happened only an hour prior to now. And Luke hadn’t _hurt_ Jade in their time here together, not like she had physically destroyed him. _ _

__“Kriff, this is complicated. What do I do with you, Mara? What do I do?”_ _

__He knelt after speaking to the empty room and lifted her by the back of her neck into a seated position. Slipping the gray cloth onto her, he pulled it taut and tucked in the sides, opting not to use the aid of a leather belt. After adjusting the tunic so that it fit comfortably around her, Luke raised and turned her body onto its side for a change in posture._ _

__She was clean, clothed and resting and though Luke didn’t think it feasible for her to escape, he grabbed hold of a single stun cuff and secured it to her left wrist. Marrying it with the sphere-bolt set onto the wall, she was once again shackled should all else fail while _he_ slept._ _

__Day one had come to a close, which found Luke sat in close proximity to his resting demon. He took the next couple of minutes to really _see_ : her skin was luminous and gentle, her hair electric and alive, and those eyes, those eyes always reminded him of swimming in the sea. _ _

__This female was deadly and dangerous though, ferocious to a fault, and widely known to protect herself by doing whatever was needed to ensure her own well being above others. No matter the toll._ _

__A part of Luke admired these qualities, but the rest of him knew how deviant Mara could be when influenced by another. Granted said influence had been Palpatine, but the facts remain, regardless of their technicalities._ _

__She was beautiful, but the devil had lived inside of her and Luke wouldn’t soon abandon that truth in favor of a pretty face. In a few hours he would start a new type of dominance and for the first time since he had planned this entire mission, the Jedi wasn’t certain what the outcome of it might be._ _

__This became nothing more than a fleeting thought as his hand roamed across his chest, touching Jade’s brand in a ritual he’s been practicing for so agonizingly long now._ _

__The scar served its purpose time and again though, especially now. _Jade_ told the tales of how much and how long he’s survived, how he’s had to endure the nightmares and the memories to get to this moment, here, now, with his wicked, sleeping rose._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be sure to check out my twitter and follow for chapter update progression and general L/M inspo: @jadedskywlkr :)


	7. the warrior and the void

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke dreams again, Mara contemplates her situation, things heat up, cool down and then spontaneously combust. Or something like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read warnings above. Read them again. If you're not bothered, read on! Thanks for being patient! x

He wasn’t naked, but Luke was shivering, teeth chattering; the durasteel bench underneath him felt like a frozen slab of ice, used to chill him to the bone. As he sat there, waiting, thinking, Skywalker’s mind was inundated with a heightened sense of fear, the silence nearly consuming him. All he could now was hope his current situation wasn't as horrid as it seemed. 

The place he was being held couldn't have been larger than a standard Rebel’s barracks. Luke wasn’t certain but it felt like smoothed duracrete was set directly against his back and, by the echoes of his heavy breathing, an emptiness surrounding all sides of him. 

The air was cool but what little of it he could suck down through the shroud fastened over his head, tasted sterile. It seemed as though an antiseptic was being vented through the air ducts, but for what purpose, Luke couldn’t fathom. 

The Jedi Knight attempted to calm his spiraling thoughts, a futile effort to stave off the tremors that were slowly building within his hands; it wasn’t merely the cold and overwhelming medicenter _vibe_ to this space, no, it was the fear. A fear twice enhanced by an unwilling absence of sight and a muted, if not completely silenced, Force connection. 

This was all made worse due to the fact that he couldn’t see through the thickened fabric of his woven hood; his imagination drew morbid pictures of what he must have looked like: a pathetic, desperate version of himself – a man apart from Luke Skywalker. Idly he wondered if this macabre self-perception was translated onto his dual set of haunting ghosts. They watched Luke, but not from within the confines of his currently occupied space. 

These faceless phantoms were... nearby but shielded somehow. He was only able to hone in on what was permissible by them, leaving everything else a guessing game. 

Assessing his unknown watchers, one was, with absolute certainty, the shadowed warrior from Red Team’s hangar bay – the same individual who had taken him. The other was a black hole, which implicated many more things he did not wish to dwell on for the moment.

Stopping his mind mid-wander, a low-toned hum vibrated somewhere off to Luke’s right and he turned his head in search of it; a popping sound followed by a quick succession of beep-beep-beeps before, “You’re a difficult man to get alone, Skywalker.” 

A woman’s voice filled the open air around him, her tone bouncing off of every corner and inch of his holding cell. It came as a sharp, distinct, sound that immediately saw his mind felled into a frenzied state of knowing: “Mara Jade. I should have suspected it was you...” 

Luke let his head drop as he realized the severity of his situation; he had known the second he awoke that wherever he’d been taken wasn’t good, but the sudden truth of it all – that The Empire had him – came as close to a waking nightmare than he dared to admit. 

“Yes, you should have, and yet you didn’t. I suppose one could spend a lifetime pondering such questions. Fortunately for you, we have that kind of time available.” 

Luke’s head snapped forwards, jutting to the right and left before his mouth lagged open at the not-so-subtle hint Jade seemed to have dropped. Or did she? 

“I’m a bit foggy at the moment, what with a knocked around skull, but did you just offer me a... _position_ within the Empire?” 

Laughter pierced his eardrums as Mara’s unhinged cackle released, and Luke couldn’t help but wince beneath the privacy of his shroud. In that minute, he was grateful to have his face hidden and kept away from the gazes trained on him. He closed his eyes and inhaled, hoping the slow suction of air would settle his nerves and rid him the acidic pool of bile that rose in the back of his throat. 

A deafening, pregnant silence filled the compact room and Luke could do nothing but wait. He wouldn’t dare to speak again for fear not of Mara’s verbal wrath, but of the void that was still there, _studying_ him. 

The speaker system signaled on again with its low-pitched hum and beeping. 

“I believe you misunderstood me, Jedi. There is no _position_ within the Empire that a Rebel scum like you could ever fulfill. What I meant to say was, with us you will gain access to all the time in the galaxy, to muse or ponder your failings. Or perhaps to contemplate the severe ramifications your seizure and subsequent incarceration will have on the Rebellion as a whole. Of course, I’m sure there may be room for negotiations, or an exchange of intel, that could possibly find your sentencing with the GE lessoned, but that’s a discussion for another time.” 

A wash of new panic and old memories suddenly plagued Luke; Yoda’s words about the Dark Side and how fear and hatred lead–“Have you anything to say for yourself, boy?” 

_That Voice._

Luke froze, his bones and blood coming to a halt at once. It was the voice of the Emperor. _The_ Emperor himself. 

Recalling protocol for any situation in which a member of the Alliance may find themselves captured by the enemy, there was only the one mechanized response Luke was authorized to say: 

“I am Luke Skywalker, Lieutenant Commander in the Rebel Alliance. Pilot Code: L–S–Eight–Eight–One–Nine–S–R.” 

A...cackle emanated and Luke could almost taste the disdain that seeped from its owner; the presence followed, coming to him as a swirling, convex black hole that felt so near, yet far out of reach. Its invisible trails moved as if wisping by him, spiraling in closer with each passing second. A delirium set over Luke, an alien presence implanting into his very core, imploring him to resign himself to it and give up. 

“Yes, good, _good_. Let the darkness wrap around you, let it slither and coil like a serpent hunting in the night. Listen to its hiss, hear as it cuts its way–” 

Luke rose and stood in a flash of movements, his body turning and twisting around, unrelated to itself and utterly frantic. He noticed then for the first time that he wasn’t wearing any binders or restraints on either his wrists or his ankles. Not that it mattered much right now. The weight of the Emperor’s influence was beyond anything he’d ever experienced prior, the will to fight was simply too weak.

The urgency to retaliate and fight back crept into Luke at the last shadowed second, and he spun in a half-circle, crawling towards the abyssal blackness that weighed down on him. 

“NO! No, you can’t do this. I–I am Luke Skywalker, Lieutenant Commander in the Rebel Alliance. Pilot Co-de: L–S–Eigh-…” 

The words ceased to come along with the remainder of his rehearsed protocol, and Luke fell to the floor in a mess of limbs and gray cloth. The night had won for the time being.

†††

Luke snapped awake and looked around the hushed halls of the Sleeping Rose. He checked the holoalarm he had set nearby, saw that only an hour had passed since he had fallen into a slumber. Not nearly enough time to recharge for the day ahead.

He next looked to Mara, sound asleep a few feet away, her presence in the Force distant and disconnected still. She looked peaceful, comfortable even, breathing both steady and rhythmic, and Luke allowed a small measure of contentment to settle into his chest. 

But she...didn’t deserve comfort or peace nor did he earn the right to any delusional perceptions of content. The shadow of the dark side and its wraiths loomed over Luke as whispered words endeavored to penetrate his mind. He was too tired to fight for or against them. Now was not the time for punishments or pardons; now was the time for rest. 

Laying his head back onto his twice-folded blazer, Luke’s eyes fluttered a few times, focus blurring in and out on Jade’s untroubled face. It wasn’t long until he disappeared, returned to the past, returned to that cell.

†††

“Wake up, Skywalker, I haven’t got all day.”

Mara Jade. 

Blue eyes fought to find clarity but the white that encompassed every part of Luke’s vision was, in a word, blinding. A slap came from out of nowhere, and blood rushed in to meet a fresh handprint left behind on his cheek. 

“Are you here with me yet?”

Luke tried to sit up, to reach and soothe his stinging skin but discovered quickly that he was unable to. He lifted his head and looked over the length of himself: The gray tunic gone, replaced with all-white clinical wear – and durasteel, reinforced bindings attached to every moveable part of his body. 

He had known as much based on the solid black line of tricopper that ran through the center of each cuff and restraint. It seemed more than apt for the job of keeping him remanded to one place, and one place only. 

The indestructible alloys that held his ankles, knees, wrists, and the sections of his bicep just above his elbow, were secured firm to each section they covered. Skywalker couldn’t see beyond to where the attachments lead, assuming they were secured to the underside of whatever surface he was on. The leather restraints over the top of his hips and chest were the most cumbersome, though, and as the stress of his predicament mounted, the straps bit into his pinched and pressed skin. 

Not good, this was not good. 

“I tire of this hesitant dance, Jedi.” 

Another slap, this time to the other cheek and Luke recovered his focus swiftly, zeroing in on the abusive culprit. 

“I am Luke Skywalker, Lieutenant Commander in the R–” 

The back of Mara’s hand came down against Luke’s sore face for the third time in as many minutes and he ground his teeth, trying with every fiber of his being to hold the anger at bay. But the fury was born slow and deep in the cavernous hollows of his soul then. 

“Shut the hell up or I’ll see that tongue of yours severed from the inside of your mouth, got it?” 

Luke nodded but did nothing more. He didn’t look at Jade or try to follow her as she looped around him. Instead, he mindfully chose to study his surroundings; there was some type of mat beneath him, but he noticed an elevation relative to Mara’s position – it was obvious he was laid on a medical table or slab of a specific type. It felt immovably hard but had just the right amount of give if he depressed any of his fingertips onto it – padded plasteel, he guessed. 

Every detail from here on out mattered, nothing was too small or insignificant if it meant getting out alive. And he did mean for this. 

“You’re Luke Skywalker, Lieutenant Commander in the Rebel Alliance, plus your pilot code identifier. I got that much already. Not forgetting it any time soon. I’d rather discuss why you’re here, so, shall we?” 

Luke drew his head south and it fell against the mat – it was an unplanned reaction to Mara, who had offered no warning, sat on top of him. The petite but fierce Hand straddled his waist and leaned forward just enough, her fixed position on the quieted man _almost_ blocking out the overhead lighting. She bent her arms and placed the pair of her humerus bones onto the center of his torso, placing her chin in the open palms of her hands. 

“The simplest answer: You’re here because the Emperor commanded it. I’m here because the Emperor commanded it. Now, you can either make your life a living hell, which would be me, or you can make it _less_ of a living hell by cooperating, also with me. So what’s it going to be, Skywalker?” 

The red haired woman with his immediate and future plans between her thighs waited dispassionately for an answer. He considered his very limited options until, “Do I have any chance of not living in hell with either decision? Better: Do I even have a choice?” 

Mara’s mouth curved into a sly grin as she brought her legs up, setting her booted heels onto either side, in the small available space between his arms and torso. Her rear pressed against his groin now, weight partially offset by leaning the most of her lower half onto the apex of his legs. It was early in the game yet. 

“Not really, but I figured I’d extend an offer and judge your response to determine how cooperative you may or may be before we begin. And, surprising no one, I can see clearly now that you’re going to be a Galactic pain in my ass, so I’m going to skip the pleasantries and go in for the kill...metaphorically speaking, of course. Well, for now, at least.” 

Luke swallowed and raised an eyebrow in suspicion and inquiry, “before starting...what exactly?” 

Mara gnawed at her bottom lip before grinding her teeth together in a cadence of click-clacks, then forced a crazed smile and leapt off of him, “before the interrogation, of course.” The sounds of her maniacal laughter carried on throughout the area around them; gazing in a grid pattern, Luke saw that it was a cell of some sort, white and glaringly bright, absent of all color save for Jade’s crimson hair and form-fitting black leathers. 

What he was able to glimpse beyond the intense light that radiated from above, were several lengths of durasteel piping, bolted to the ceiling and run parallel to his position beneath them. He wondered if they would end up serving any true purpose and immediately regretted the thought as soon as it came to mind. 

Jade was still walking circles around him, her fingertips tracing abstract patterns on his clothed arms as she went. “Do you know why the Emperor commanded your presence here? Do you know why my Master would go to such lengths for _you_? It took months of planning, several exploratory expeditions that ultimately turned up not a single trace of you, and then finally, a break. An undercover operative in the Alliance came through with usable intel that resulted in, well, this.”

There was a telling level of disdain laden in her words, but Luke decided against pulling at that thread too soon, opting instead for a more ...direct approach. “I would assume all of your efforts have something to do with Darth Vader being my father. I mean, if I had to guess.” 

Mara nodded and continued her pacing, fingernails lightly scraping his jaw and hairline, “Mmm, and so you think being the son of Lord Vader sets you apart from everyone else?” 

Luke’s tongue coated his bottom lip with a thin layer of saliva, hydrating drying tissue while also taking a moment to assess where Jade may be going with this style of questioning. He felt their current exchange wasn’t the aforementioned interrogation and despite all evidence to support, something else felt dangerously off. 

“I don’t think any particular way about Vader being my father. I haven’t quite processed the grand reveal yet, to be completely honest.” Luke imagined the truth would benefit him when it came to Mara Jade even though he hadn’t known the woman outside of rumors and murmurs shared amongst the Alliance; that single holo transmission a few months prior to now did little in the way of properly introducing them to one another. 

He understood her to be deadly though – that came with having the title of Emperor’s Hand – but to what extent and the reason _she_ had been chosen for this obvious covert mission, Luke remained unsure. 

“You don’t acknowledge the Sith Lord of the Galaxy as your father? Even though he told you this very fact himself?” Mara looped still, her steps silent but certain. She stopped by his right hand, looked over his robotic prosthesis, and weaved her fiver fingers in with his. “You lost your true hand while learning the facts of your parentage and yet, you haven’t _processed_ it yet?” 

Bending his false fingers back as far as they could go, Luke felt the pain as though it were his own, true anatomy suffering. He pushed back and overpowered her, eliciting a low yelp before another crack sounded out followed by an immediate wave of heat that afflicted his face. “None of that, Skywalker.” 

Luke huffed and nearly rolled his eyes, “I can’t lay here and allow you to break my fingers without instinctually fighting it, Jade. You should understand this type of defensive behavior better than most, I’d imagine.” Mara tilted her head and stared at him, mulling over his words, working at their various meanings so that she could move this scene onto the next. That was the goal, to get information, no matter how long, no matter the lengths. 

“You think you know me, Jedi? You refuse to accept your own history, how could you ever think you’d know me enough to imagine what types of _behavior_ I might understand?” 

Luke felt a tingling in his spine at that, a cold leaching sensation that spread rapid-fire from one part of his body to the next. Not numb but... paralyzed. 

“Ah, I see the serum is working. Good.” Mara held up her hand, the same one she came close to breaking his robotic fingers with, revealing a small hypodermic needle in the center of her palm. “We made this injection device, and the juice, just for you – small enough to go unnoticed it but powerful enough to hold just the right dosage.” 

Luke’s mouth lagged open and his eyes rolled into the back of his skull; his thoughts was lost in a frenetic overwhelm of panic and fear, yet his body remained present and aware. He could think and feel, but not act. 

Not good. 

He mouthed the word ‘why’ to Jade before his motor skills fully vanished. “Why? Because I can. Because your smart mouth and entitlement grate on my nerves. Or maybe because I have something far worse planned for you... Whatever reason suits you best, use that one.” Mara discarded the used injector and shook free of her tight onyx jacket. 

“Where were we again? These interruptions are irksome. Ah, yes. Skywalker, if I was going to break any of your bones, and I may just yet, I wouldn’t lead off with durasteel and fabricated nerve-endings. Give me more credit than that. Back to Daddy Dearest for the moment – Lord Vader. So let’s review: You refuse to acknowledge your bloodline, or haven’t worked through it yet, whatever that means, but you do see yourself as enough of his child to believe it sets you apart. Enough so that you end up here, on the bidding of my Master, Emperor Palpatine. Interesting... and complete banthashit.” 

Luke couldn’t speak, was working hard enough to merely breathe, but blinked and followed her as best he could with eyes that wanted nothing more than to see something else, some place else. Was she right? Was Luke refusing to accept Vader as his father publicly but plenty brazen to think it separated him from all others? 

“You’re here because the Emperor commanded it. And I’m here because you have two choices, and two choices only. Now, would you like to hear your limited options or shall I wait until you’ve had time to process?” Mara stifled a laugh before lifting her leg up and over him, straddling his waist again. 

She didn’t bend forward or set herself up in the way she had the first time, no, this turn she pressed onto his groin and bounced once, twice, “Feels good doesn’t it? You feel good to me, too, you hopelessly inept farmboy. So, here’s how things will go, as per the orders I have been authorized to extend to you. Option one: you turn over all Alliance secrets, from base locations to fleet numbers, to future planned missions and any intel on our favorite treasonous traitor, General Madine. This applies also to Mon Mothma, and the Princess Leia, etcetera etcetera. Option two: you do all the same as with option one but take on the role as the Emperor’s new apprentice, given your impressive bloodline. Your father, whom you refuse to acknowledge as such, will be executed summarily and you will take up the mantle by my Master’s side.”

Luke’s eyes widened into ghost-white orbs, like a sleeping Womprat spooked in the night, before clamping them shut and quickly choosing to remain that way. He wasn’t about to select either recourse, and seeing as he was unable to vocally comply or refute, he simply laid still and listened. 

“I suppose I can have a bit of fun with you then, yes? I do love a good screw, and I could do it now without you offering up much of a fight, but I think I’d rather give you the chance to say no, all things considered. Same with the choices I’ve spelled out for you above. I mean, we will come ba–Oh, well would you look at this. Excited, Skywalker? For me?” 

Luke had felt the stirrings of his arousal the moment Mara had bestridden him; it confused the Jedi – why would his body respond to her, and so quickly, given his current predicament as the Empire’s newest plaything. In any case, he choose to ignore the teasing bait and kept his eyes from seeing still. Giving in to Jade this early would earn him no favors, of that he was certain.

That was another point of a growing unease: Luke couldn’t pin down the angles Mara was aiming for–she _wanted_ to kriff but also had orders to pry information and turn him to the dark side? And the serum, where had that fit into all of this? _‘Games, Luke, she’s playing games. This is just the beginning, remember. Lesson one.’_

He was grateful that he could think for himself, despite the total absence of his motor control; thinking on it all over again, Luke couldn’t stifle the low whimper and illogical anger that rushed in as a result. Yet, he understood fully well that his body betraying him by the mere pinprick of a needle was beyond his control. Nevertheless, the Jedi spent the next few minutes irrationally resenting himself. 

With the return of his logical self, Luke knew these kinds of practices would happen frequently, but rather than being furious, he realized that every little bit of learned information was another piece to the puzzle. The familiarity of each game, of every intent and Mara’s personal motivations, would enable him to escape in the end, whenever the end may be. 

For now, he redirected his thoughts onto the low electric murmur being emitted from the lights above while jointly trying to steady his hyper beating of his heart. Try as hard as he might, Luke couldn’t hide from the voice screaming within, shouting that a decision would eventually need to be made. But...how can he choose between the Alliance – his family, friends and allies – or his...father? Even further, was Luke able to willingly risk so many lives for a man he had spent his whole life fearing? A man who inevitably set to die like the rest of the people within this equation.

This was a game. The living hell Jade had mentioned earlier was happening in real time. 

Luke groaned and let gravity guide the weight of his head to one side. “You indigent little pest, laying there on my Master’s table – you’re nothing more than Rebel scum mucking up the Emperor’s pristine white cell.” The fire-haired woman stopped speaking, a laugh tumbling out from between her wicked lips. “What’s even more pathetic is that you’ve known the truth of your father for a several weeks and already exhibit daddy issues. It begs the question though: I wonder what he would do if he knew you were here…” 

Luke’s eyelids burst open, but his head was facing away, the lack of mobility disallowing him the chance to focus on her, to see if he might read her true or not. She saw this helpless struggle, watched as the full extent of his peripheral vision was being put to use. Mara used both of her hands to lead her prisoner’s sight gazing into hers; there was a plea, a cry, there within those skyless blue’s – a wish that it had all been said as a cruel joke.

“Oh, didn’t I mention it? Lord Vader has no knowledge of your incarceration, will have none either, so long as you remain alive. Your well-being is entirely up to you, but I wouldn’t wait too long to resign yourself. The Emperor isn’t a very patient man.” 

She paused, ran her hands through his unkempt hair and then reached for the buttons on his shirt, popping them open one by one: “This is day one, Skywalker.”

†††

Mara watched him as he slept, her right hand pulling at a knot that had caught in her fresh-scented hair – like roses, or a rainy summer’s day. Luke must have washed her as she slept, considering the rest of her body felt just as clean and well-cared for as when she had willingly sauntered into this ridiculously unnerving situation.

Her mind wandered, thinking back to that evening and sorting through what had really happened, in depth, for the first time since it had _actually_ happened. _‘What were you thinking, Jade? Walking into a place like this knowing full well who this man was...is to you?’_

Mara berated herself in silence and then an answer to her own unsaid question came to mind: she acquiesced because of her curiosity whenever it came to Luke Kriffing Skywalker. Mara always admitted to a fascination with him, be it on orders or in her own way, but this, here, whatever was transpiring now, was a situation unto itself entirely.

She looked herself over, not fully finished with the rapid session of self-psychiatry, but in desperate need of a distraction. A tunic, a familiar men’s-sized gray tunic, was wrapped around her and she was cuffed at both her left ankle and wrist, both secured to the side wall. _‘Interesting choice, Skywalker.’_

The plausibility of escape leapt into the forefront of her brain but just as fast as it had come, it faded away to a dulled desire – becoming a feat she wasn’t certain she wanted to undertake. Would he harm her if he woke in time to catch sight of the blatant disobedience? If she made it, would she blow the whistle on him for all the Galaxy to discover? Would she go to Talon? Would Karrde employ a covert operation to assassinate him? 

The thoughts assaulted Mara as she laid still, caught in an absence of action. And then Skywalker startled the silence, pulling Mara from her reverie. Mumbling a long string of nonsense at first, incomplete sentences and single words poured from his mouth; the former Hand was glimpsing a live view into the living past. 

A sudden gasp followed by a wet gurgle emanated from deep within Luke’s throat, startling her. It was followed by an eerie silence and Mara shifted as far towards him as she could before the binders bit into her skin. “Skywalker, wake the hell up!” He was....choking but on what, Jade couldn’t deduce. Using her freed limb to flail at him, she came so near to his shoulders before running out of space. 

“Kriff! Luke...LUKE…”

She needed for him to wake up, to breathe and then they could get on with whatever the day held ahead. Right now all else didn’t matter.

And then a cough, finally. Skywalker coughed a spell, which meant he was breathing again. Mara exhaled a long length of air and then promptly deflated against the mat she laid atop of. That was frightening but more so for the reaction it elicited from her than what had happened to him. 

All plans of escape fled from her mind for the time being, and instead, she now focused solely on him. It was as if she were now researching a specimen and judging its intent and behaviors after coming to know the thing for so long. Luke’s darkness was there, alive and hissing and it unsettled her, scaring Mara more than she’d ever be willing to admit. 

But there was a light in him incomparable to any other – a fierce belief in the Force and it’s powers for good – the thing that had undoubtedly saved him time and again, given the hell he lived with on a daily basis. And how exactly he’s survived so torn in half by these dueling sides, Mara might never come to completely understand. 

She couldn’t foresee which side would have its victory parade, but she found herself putting forth energy into the Force, whispering prayers that it wouldn’t be the night that won out. For where might that leave her? Where wou–a loud beeping broke her thoughts off, and she saw his eyes pinch and hands still themselves. 

He was awake.

†††

Luke snapped awake at a piercing sound – his holoalarm, signaling the end of his brief bout of sleep. He didn’t desire to open his eyes yet, instead slapped his hand over the squealing device, effectively silencing it in one fell swoop.

“You were dreaming.” 

He shifted over to face Mara, noting the inquisitive tone to her statement, then pursed his lips before rolling onto his back and stretching the rest from his limbs. He sighed as he heard a few pops and clicks that originated from his neck and various other bones, “People dream, this isn’t breaking news, Jade.” 

Mara smirked and extended her legs down and away from where they had been folded by her middle. “People don’t normally dream so ...loudly.” 

The Jedi Master laughed a breath and then shifted his weight onto the side, now facing towards the woman in gray; she was watching him with a devil’s red mane and two emerald eyes full of hesitation and...something else. He paid no mind to it and remained quiet, caught for the moment between two worlds. 

Sometimes he would wake to find himself the man he had once been, the Luke Skywalker that was full of hope – possessed to the brim with the scrappy will to fight for all things good and true in the Galaxy. 

But then those moments would pass, as they inevitably had to, and he’d be the man Jade and the Empire had shaped all those not-so-long years ago. This truth remained on the inside only though; Luke was a plaything forever malformed and shattered by far too many nights of devious torment and the wicked ways of gods and monsters. 

Here, in this cantina though, he had become the monster, the god whose ways were wicked and whose deviances shown unbidden. But perhaps Jade was just Mara right now, and he could be Luke, if for only a brief break in time. 

“And what was I dreaming so loudly about?” 

Mara lapped her lips and closed her eyes, her chin settling near the base of her neck – she couldn’t look at him, not yet. “You were twitching at first, your fingers and hands wouldn’t stop moving, the right one especially. It was gripping and releasing in repeated patterns, like you were letting go and holding on all at the same time. You grunted a few times, too, which is not a wholly unpleasant sound by the way, but ...when you spoke, I knew it didn’t come from any reason I’d have wished for it to be. At least, not anymore.” 

Luke caught his bottom lip between his teeth and slid closer to her, less than half a foot of space separating them as they laid side by side to one another. “Look at me, Mara.” 

Her eyebrows pulled in on themselves and creases lined her forehead, but her head did not lift to meet his gaze. “Mara…” Luke breathed her name like he had so many times before – when he had been begging for a release or for permission to climax. The sound, her name on his tongue, was haunting and she couldn–“Look at me, now.” 

She refused him again by not moving but he didn’t ask her a third time; using a single finger, Luke guided her face so that his and hers were level with one another. A tear was slowly trailing down the left side of her cheek and without thinking, he wiped it away, “Tell me what I said.” 

Mara swallowed and exhaled a long, slow spell, “You kept saying, ‘no choice, can’t choose. How, no, can’t. No choice…’ over and over. You choked at one point, too. I tried to startle you awake but you were too deep into the dream and I _was_ too far from you to physically help. The grunts here and there, those were okay. It was everything else that I…” 

Her words finished without ending and Luke let his finger slip from Mara’s jawline. He wanted to condemn her for putting on a show but a part of him wasn’t convinced it _was_ a false exhibition of emotions. Was it possible she was reformed in a way he hadn’t expected her to be? That all of her reticence up to this moment was merely to save face and keep up with Jade standards? 

“Why would that make you cry, Mara?” She clasped her hands together and paused, taking a moment before answering to settle herself. Taking one of two routes available to her, Jade opted for the greater of two evils, “It was one tear, Skywalker. Not really a bucket of grief over here.” 

Luke’s eyes closed and he sucked in a deep length of air and Jade knew she had little time left to stop him before he spun out onto the trails of darkness. She had become far too familiar with this demon-seduction and when it moved in, when it scaled its way towards the Jedi, the air felt heavier, charged full of energy that desperately sought release. “Luke, I made a joke because that’s easier for me than being honest. Don’t take it as poor submissiveness on my end, okay?” 

He remained quiet as he forced the venom-seeking serpents away, one heartbeat at a time. It was becoming harder to keep them remanded to their corners; they came so quickly, moving fluidly through time and space as though neither concept existed within the Sleeping Rose. 

Returned to himself, or whatever form he needed to adopt at present, Luke nodded in understanding. “Keep the sarcasm to a minimum. You saw what happened earlier when you tried being a smartass with me.” 

Mara ran her tongue across her lower lip, pulling it in between teeth before letting it bounce free, her brows raising before, “Is that a threat or a promise, Skywalker?” Her usual confidence had been shaken during his fitful sleep but it was returning in dribs and drabs the longer they spoke. 

At the sight of her bitten mouth and tongue, Luke acted outside of himself, body moving without a mental connection or the willpower to cease _it_ from happening. His lips crashed into hers, hands wasting not a single second before wrapping around her head in a fevered urgency he hadn’t felt coming. This didn’t originate from the dark side, nor the light, it was...from somewhere else. From within. 

Mara didn’t refuse him, rather she gave back; slipping her tongue in to meet his own, she tasted and breathed him in, reveling in the heat and raw emotion these actions forth from her. They hadn’t slept long enough to foul the moment with unclean mouths or resulting awkward silences, and so neither held back in their affections. 

Until Mara moved and reached her hand out, in an obvious attempt to touch him. 

Using the hand that wasn’t restricted within a stun cuff, Jade made to weave her fingers through his messy and disheveled hair before all Siths hell broke loose. 

Luke stopped kissing and employed the use of both hands to grip her blood-red hair, pulling it and her head away from his in tandem. “NO, no, Jade, no...” On his knees in a split second of time, he was looking down at her, chest heaving; the memories of Mara touching, maiming and denying him flooded Skywalker in torrential waves, leaving his body a shaken mess. 

“You don’t get to touch me, you don’t get to have that. Not unless **I** allow it – don’t you understand this yet? You ...you can’t just…” Luke was still hovering and holding tight to her mane, his face turned crimson from the anger and anguish plaguing him. 

Mara was afraid, deeply, unnervingly afraid of him. This was unlike his flashpoint the other evening, and way worse than the three smacks her backside had earned in response to her snark. This was...dangerous. This was…

“Luke, LUKE, listen, just listen to me, please?” Mara pleaded with her eyes, never breaking focus with his crazed and hurricane-torn blues. “I could have left, I could have left you here tonight, but I didn’t. When you were sleeping, I was awake for a while. I could have used the Force and escaped and you’d never have known until later on. Hells, I could have killed you in your sleep if I wanted to, but I didn’t. Do you hear me – I **didn’t**. Ask me why, Luke, ask me. Please.” 

Mara sucked in gulps of air – breath never felt fulfilling enough when Luke Skywalker was involved – as her body trembled from both the adrenaline of their kiss and his sudden and unexpected outburst. She nodded, knowing what was needed in that moment. Risking his wrath, and her potential end all over again, Jade went for it despite the fear: using her unrestrained hand, she lifted it gently, moving so painfully slow, and laid it against his cheek. “Ask me, ask me why, Luke.” 

Luke’s eyes closed as the warmth of her skin came into contact with his own. His mind and body were awash by the explosions that had torn throughout and he was still wrestling with the fallout. He hadn’t foreseen such a reaction coming, at least not in what was, up until now, a relaxed situation. But Skywalker had neglected to check in on her connection to the Force when he had been roused from sleep – perhaps this was why he hadn’t policed her actions before they happened – he wasn’t attuned. 

“Why...why didn’t you leave?” The words came as whispered and broken things, his voice and mind unsteady but the fury visibly starting to subside. “Why didn’t you kill me all those years ago when you had the chance?” 

Mara’s mouth fell open, her mind reeling from a question she never imagined she’d hear from this man. This constant fighter, a Jedi Master–“You could have overdosed me, put a lightsaber into my heart or a blaster shot to the head. Why those games? For Palpatine? Or was it because _you_ enjoyed it?” 

Luke eased up on her hair in a show of defeated resignation, allowing her to fall onto the mat. “Why am I alive, Mara? Why did you help me escape? Why didn’t you kill me now?” 

He waited, staring at his powerful prisoner as he leaned onto the heels of his onyx boots. Jade returned his piercing glare in kind, but her eyes were less intense, less feral than he had become used to. “I didn’t kill you then for the same reasons I didn’t kill you this day, Skywalker.” She paused, gaining strength enough to continue on, knowing it would break open a truth she had long since buried and spent years of her life denying.

Luke stood at that, his mind staggering – he heard what she was going to say, there, in the deep recesses of her thoughts, and almost collapsed at the very notion of it. “No! No, you don’t, Mara. Keep your mouth closed if you know what’s good for you. I don’t-I don’t _want_ to hear that. I don’t want to hear anything from you until our time here expires. Which leaves us with about...forty-five hours. I see now that it was a mistake not drugging you like you did to me in that blistering-white hell. But I’ll rectify that later on this evening. Now, we...we have a lot to do today, wouldn’t want to put it off, would we?” 

“No, Luke, no, don’t shut me out. We were getting somewhere, let’s keep talki–” the TaunTaun bit used on her during their first few moments here, in this forgotten hole together, separated her lips and secured around her head for a second time. He placed his index finger atop the lower half of her face and “shh’d” the relentless woman at his feet. She was bucking her hips in an effort to sit up while simultaneously swinging the unrestrained arm towards her face, trying to remove the gag. It was futile and he knew she understood as much.

Luke grabbed her wild arm and eased it down onto the mat, circling the other open half of the stun cuffs around her wrist and clicking the mechanism closed. It locked with a finality that echoed in the space between them and Mara went still. 

“You can’t think that way of me, and I’m here to prove to you why, Jade.” 

He picked her up into a standing position and guided her towards the wall where the objects needed for their second day together waited. There were lengths of pipe that were installed parallel to the ground and he moved quickly to them; connecting the binders to a paired plastisteel loop set a higher than the top of her head for this express purpose, he grinned at the annoyance that shouted from within her thoughts. Her arms were above her now, hands clasped together and she shifted her stance to find a more manageable position. 

“I’m not some farmboy turned Jedi Master that will give in to pretty notions of the heart.”

He repeated the same process on her ankles, setting her legs apart, just as they had been on the floor for the past day and a half. She didn’t try to kick or harm him, and he knew she wouldn’t. There was no issue of whether or not she wanted him, but of how – and despite Mara’s feigned reluctance to the bit, there was no denying her interests were piqued, if not a little excited by the unknown that lay ahead. 

“I’m the product of your deviance, the monster born of your hands.”

Luke quieted himself and took a few steps back. She was in position but not quite ready, and neither was he. What would happen next with Jade was something he desperately desired, but he also needed to disconnect from ...whatever had just transpired. He wasn’t _supposed_ to kiss her or allow her to speak to him as she did. To utter the words she _almost_ said. 

That break into nostalgic normalcy wasn’t part of the intentions he had constructed for these three days. For Luke to go so far off the flight map was unhinging him to his very core, his mind drowned by the implications of it all. He was making up for this by using intimidating speeches that he believed in for so long. Now though... _‘Why did you kiss her?’_ He couldn’t figure that part out, or rather, was refusing himself the answers that might come if he spent any time truthfully mulling over the question. 

Without further pause, Luke stood behind her and closed the gap that separated them – not to harm or take advantage but to lean his body against the taut strength that rested beneath her… _his_ gray tunic. It was similar to the move he had done in Coruden two and a half days prior, but things had changed, shifted between them and he needed to find balance. 

His front was pressed flush from the middle of her spine to the base of her backside; bringing his arms up and sliding in by the sides of her shoulders, he laid his palms flat against the duracrete directly ahead of them. “I need to use the ‘fresher before I begin. You stay here. I’ll be close by, not that it matters, since I know now you won’t be leaving me, even if given the chance.” 

He whispered through her hair and followed this by leaning his forehead against the base of her neck. She sighed through the cold metal and tilted her own head to rest on his and they stayed like this for an impossibly long time. 

He shook his head, a physical effort to combat the intangible, “I’m not that man, Mara. I’ve become the void.” 

He heard her mumble through the bit but didn’t care to know what she was saying. Whether or not it was truth or lies coming from her, Luke _needed_ to wash himself in preparation for the day ahead and it became the only thing he could properly focus on. A mundane distraction of routine that might serve as a reminder as to why he was doing what he was doing in the first place. 

To regain perspective. Though he doubted it would benefit either of them in the long run. 

He walked away and left her standing there, strung up and unsettlingly silenced. He walked the small ramp over to the sink and gathered a fresh set of supplies and hot water, then stripped down exactly where he was. The duracrete flooring of the Sleeping Rose would dry quick enough and so he stood there, his position allowing a visual line of sight to Jade, and washed himself, head to heel. 

It felt good to wipe away the dirt and semi-acrid odor of the past twenty-some hours; the memories would remain but Mara’s...climax had left him sticky and after so long, it needed seeing to. Washing up thoroughly but faster than he would had he been home in his apartment, Luke finished and instantly felt better about his taking time to do this. 

Reaching down, he retrieved a set of clothes from his flight bag and on top for easy access. After air drying naked, running a towel through his damp hair, and cleansing his teeth, Luke paused to give himself a once over in the mirror. As ever, as always, there _she_ was. 

_‘JADE’_

Luke allowed his head to lull backwards and his eyes fall shut. The sight of his scar, of her brand, didn’t elicit the same fever it typically had in the past; it felt more like a dull simmer inside of him now, but whether it was directed towards her or because of her, Skywalker couldn’t guess. He still had that desire for retribution, still owed all of this to his soul, but the fire had lessened a few degrees, its strength waning as the days and nights wore on. 

Coming back to the present and straightening his stance, Luke looked down at the clothes and nodded; instead of picking them up and dressing, he opted only for his undergarments, if for nothing else that he knew he had to start prioritizing their time together. Slipping the soft, black fabric up his legs, he let the waistband snap and then walked slowly towards where Mara was standing. He wouldn’t bother wasting time on clothing just to have them forgotten on the floor in a short while. Logistics. 

He stood next to her, his back against the wall she was currently facing, and he sighed. “Now I’m wearing less than you.” Mara’s temple laid against the cool duracrete as she looked him over, her eyes going from north to south. Her gaze paused, as they always did, on the center of his chest before smarting up and returning to meet his gaze. Her strength hadn’t waned in the time she was made to wait and Luke felt a strange attraction in response to that. 

Her will seemed to be unbreakable. Or was it? 

“You know what comes next, don’t you? Or at the very least have an idea?” He pushed his body away from the slab and moved behind Jade, pressing against her and breathing in the fragrance of her long, unkempt hair. “If you’d like that bit to come off in the near future, be a good little pet and do as I say, and then maybe I’ll reconsider.” 

Mara nodded and peered at him from over her shoulder, eyes set alight and caught in a war between curiosity and concern. “I don’t want to hurt you but I’m not about to go at this easy because of a simple conversation you and I shared. Whatever disillusions you have about me, I intend to rectify.” 

He wanted to indulge but not fully, not yet. Always holding back, never giving in. It was becoming more and more difficult the longer they were together but Luke was stronger than his urges, more powerful than mere desires of the physiological. 

Taking a few steps away, he retrieved and slipped the two durasteel clamps into the hem of his underwear, letting the connecting chain link dangle across the fabric and chilling his thigh. 

Returned to where he will remain for the entirety of this _session_ with Jade, Luke didn’t hesitate when moving his hands to the front of the tunic. Using the index fingers on both of his hands, he ran the two of them down the length of her warmed skin, pulling apart and separating the material as he went. 

As his fingernails grazed over her newly exposed breasts, Luke felt through the Force that it had done its intended job: Mara shivered under his touch, two rosy-pink nipples peaking in response. The woman in front of him was spiraling – her chest rose and fell in quick succession, legs strained against the ankle bindings in an attempt to fight the weakness that fought to overthrow her. Her body was responding, thoughts slipping into a sea of want, lust and desire. 

But Luke knew she would ask for the one thing he wouldn’t give her, at least not yet. And that was part of the game, all part of his pre-fabricated plans. Everything else had been spontaneous but this, _this_ would be controlled and by the book he had written over the last six and half years. 

Touch at her belly now, he finished by twisting the two halves of the tunic together and tying them off just below her navel. He had full access and sight to her backside and front chest, and the blood in his veins soared in anticipation. “Do you recognize this tunic? I pulled it out of a locked chest and cleaned it just so you could wear it for me. A bit big for your frame, but I suppose that doesn’t matter now.” 

Mara looked from her left arm to her right and shook her head, indicating that she didn’t know it or its significance. “No? Surprising. I’d have thought you’d remember it. It was what I was wearing in that holding cell before the real torturous adventure began with you. And it was the clothing you threw at me as I made it to the opened passageway on that one-hundred and sixty-seventh day. Yet, you don’t recall. Fascinating how selective memory operates.” 

Luke stepped back and marveled at the crimson-haired demon, smiling a half as he leisurely ran a fingertip from the base of her rounded bottom to its top – doing the same on the other side without wasting a moment. 

“I think you do remember, but as per the norm, you’re pushing to see how far I’ll go.” Moving closer, his lips at her ear, Luke pressed his hardened length against her ass, “Do you want to see how far I can go, Jade?” 

He nipped at her lobe before moving away and smacking her end, hard. But he didn’t immediately let go after he had slapped her; gripping firm, yet soft flesh, he held her steady while lowering the durasteel bar that Mara’s wrists were latched to. Securing it into its new slot with solid plastisteel pins to prevent her from lifting the bar up and out of its socket, the rods clicked and Luke smirked. This would enable him to bend her forward or lift her with ease but without harm. _‘Logistics.’_

Her arms were bent in front of her now, the bar just above eye level and Mara sighed from the ease of tension and relief that flooded the muscles in her arms. There was no confusion on either’s part – Mara knew why Luke had adjusted the fastenings. He answered the unasked question anyway, “For leverage…wouldn’t want to scrap those knees or bump that pretty face against the ‘crete.” 

She sighed through the steel bit still locked across her lips and spittle dripped down onto her breast below. Luke had seen the saliva fall but not what had come of it beyond that point. Curiosity grabbed his interest and he slid around, stood in front of her, his hands trailing an invisible map across the smooth skin of her false ribs and lower waistline. 

“Mmm…” Luke couldn’t stifle the murmur as it rose from the depths of his throat – he was battling a fading willpower and the grip on his control every second of every minute now. Studying her chest, Luke had seen where the small pat of dribble had landed and rather than go for it, like he wanted, he grabbed Jade’s jaw and angled her face so that she could see nothing beyond him.

Wanting to kiss her again, wanting to taste and share that with moment with her again threatened to overwhelm Luke; his lips were so near to hers but the bit prevented any chance of that, and so he sighed and smirked, silently thanking the Force. “You’re dangerous. You see, I can’t help myself with you. And if I can’t help myself, then that’s a problem…” As the sentiment wandered off incompletely, Luke released her face and brought his eyes down to level with one of her breasts. 

Grasping the silken flesh within his right hand, Skywalker brought his tongue to the droplets of spittle, lapping at them once until the space was clean. But he didn’t stop at that. Feeling eyes watching as he licked a slow path towards the center of her mound, he stopped before he reached the rose-colored circle, earning him a hushed sigh. “To combat the darkness you’ve gifted me, I tried to so often and spent many nights thinking of what it might be like to come home to _this_ after a day’s work – to indulge and get lost within this beautiful body. And then I’d see what you did to my chest and remember that you don’t deserve to hear me say that I think you’re beautiful. That I’ve compared you to every woman I’ve ever been with. You don’t deserve any of that, or me, Mara. And yet, I can’t...I ca-” 

Luke’s lips closed over Jade’s nipple, his hand squeezing the supple mamma as he lightly bit and sucked at her. She sighed, her eyes never breaking from the salacious sights below; her mouth gasped around the chilled durasteel, producing more saliva that dripped and ran down her fevered skin. She couldn’t help it – the gag was great at keeping her silent, but not so ideal when it came to keeping up appearances. Not that she cared for that at the moment. 

Her thoughts were shredded between what she was physically experiencing and what he had said about her being beautiful. He admitted to fantasizing of her as a way to equal out the balance between his light and the embedded darkness that haunted his every action – but it was clear to Mara that the crossroads leading to either path laid ahead of them now. 

But _oh_ how good it all felt. Frighteningly good, but Mara couldn’t reason whether it was her clouded, lust-filled mind or the man at her front that was causing such the stir inside of her. 

Halting to gaze up at her bound and heaving guest, Luke stood, reaching around to the belt-attachments at the rear of her head and then waited, “If I take this off, I don’t want to hear any banthashit from you. Are we clear?” 

Mara’s face lifted once before falling, signaling compliance, and Skywalker let the Tauntaun bit fall to the ground by their feet. She licked at her stretched and dried skin, wincing as the inevitable salty-sting burned into her nerve endings. “Thanks, Skywalker.”

She wiggled her nose and ran her tongue over the sore edges of her mouth to readjust before suddenly taking in a sharp pull of air, surprising her, “Sith’s spit…” 

Luke had begun to consume the other rosebud, scraping his teeth against the sensitive skin while simultaneously attaching one of the clamps onto the other. Not languishing the moment, he stood erect to his full height and straightened the link-line before securing its other half onto her. 

The chain was strung between each breast now and Luke laid a finger into the dipped center of it, pushing down gently, “Do you remember the tunic now?”

Breathing in an elevated but steady rhythm, Mara gave herself a once over and nodded, not meeting his piercing ocean-blues, “Yes, of course I remember this. Why did you keep it all these years?” 

Luke laughed, then stooped underneath her bent arms to come out and stand beside her. He knelt down, reconfiguring the ankle restraints to add in a few lengths of slack – this would enable her legs to be spread, lifted or angled without ripping or tearing the skin beneath the cuffs. 

“Why did I keep the tunic? I’m going to assume that what just came out of you was a redundant question. Much like your inquiry about why I didn’t laser off or cover my scar. Or are you digging for more emotion from me? I’m sorry to say it Mara, but it’s just not there.” He swallowed and stole a glance off into the distance, his heart racing and throat full with confusion and reluctance. 

She adjusted her head to the right to better watch him, eyes pleading and yet not wholly resigned to the fact that she believed, deeply, that there had to be more, broken Force connection or not. She wouldn’t beg him, though. Begging wasn’t in her nature and regardless of what had occurred earlier between them in this abandoned hole in the world, she wouldn’t bend on that. 

“So what happens now, Skywalker?” Luke ran a hand through his nearly dried hair, tousling it about, and then grinned, “Actually? You need to use the ‘fresher, that’s what happens now. We’ll pick up where we left off, but I neglected to offer you the chance earlier and now it’s long past an acceptable amount of time.” He removed the cuffs from her wrists and ankles and heaved a sigh – he had only just reset them. Guiding her with a hand at the base of her spine towards the Rose’s rear washroom, he kept pace at her six, not wanting to see more of her than he had to. “Make it quick. And don’t remove the clamps.”

Checking her Force connection, he felt it subdued and wholly absent – like a light switch mounted just out of reach, denying her access. Good. 

She went in, did her business and finished, pausing to wash up in preparation for the next few hours; by sparing herself any loss of dignity along the way, Jade allowed herself this small comfort. She was ...grateful he had bathed her only a little while earlier, during her sleep, cleaning oneself versus being cleaned were two very separate entities into and of themselves. And the upcoming situation would be vastly different than anything she’d done before. 

Mara wasn’t entirely sure why this line of thought was taking up space in her head; there was nervous anticipation but for what exactly, she wasn’t certain. What _wouldn’t_ he do with her in this new position? Should she try to talk her way out of it? Jade mused to herself until a knock shook her from out of the brief reverie. 

“Ready.” Appearing outside of the cantina’s ‘fresher, she looked relaxed and Luke felt an abyssal weakness flood into his bones. She wasn’t supposed to be _relaxed_ and willing, but, no, she wasn’t supposed to be unwilling either. A low hiss seethed at him and before Luke knew what was happening, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled fast, returning in the direction of the reinforced pipelines and stun cuffs. 

“What...what just happ-” Putting his hand over her mouth, he silenced the confused woman, made short work of the restraints and checked her position relative to the wall. Luke moved in quick, fluid motions, biting out a swift, “Be quiet, Jade,” when she kept trying to ask him about his sudden change of attitude. 

She didn’t argue, knowing any words of hers might incite a rage far greater. And as much as she suspected the undercurrents of his war within plagued him, Mara knew she wasn’t the one, at least not here, that could quiet those storms.

Luke stepped away, turning around to face an emptiness born in the underbelly of Coruscant. Had he been recreated with similar conditions by Mara Jade and a fallen Empire at the helm? Most of him screamed yes, but there were parts...minute pieces of his soul that spoke softly, telling him he could be more, that he could return to himself. That he could be rescued, even now, all these years after.

His salvation could be a woman with the sun for hair and a forest in her eyes.

But the past. The time before. The Empire’s cell and her wickedness, Palpatine’s games and strings ran so deep that he didn’t come this far to turn back on a _could be._

“You happened, Mara. _You._ ” 

He knelt down, retrieving two canisters from a minute shelf set into the wall. Duragel first, to cleanse his hands, followed by a lubricant that was a Galaxy-wide fan favorite – Astroglide. The latter would be used to make things move a bit quicker than they would otherwise, while keeping things safe and relatively pain free. 

Positioned again at her rear, Luke slid Mara’s hair to the side and out of the way, letting it fall in a great wavy mess of color onto one of her shoulders. This allowed him full access to her neck, which he greeted with a light kiss and a breath of hot air. “You’ll never understand why I need to have you this way, and I’m not positive I can help you see. But I’ll try to show you, try to make you understand by using my body and yours. I can’t think the things you want me to speak, Mara. Don’t expect to ever get that from me.” 

Quiet now, Luke feathered all ten of his fingertips down the length of her torso; passing over ribs first, then dipping into the narrowing space by her stomach, he closed his eyes as she arched her backside into his aching groin. He stopped to revel in the contact, to burn in her heat, before resuming, tips now ghosting over the slope of her hips.

This was all slow, tantalizing work leading up to Luke’s daily endgame: taking her, finally and fully, with more than just his hands and a vibrowand. He would have her today, but in a controlled display of dominance and nothing beyond. It would be mind over matter, his willpower fighting to remain intact and take him as far and as long as he could see to it. To prove a point, to drive home the significance of what he had experienced nearly seven years ago. 

Removing his hands from her, he tore them away to coat one with a few pumps of the Astroglide gel. “Relax your muscles, and it won’t hurt.” 

He saw her nod and look towards the blank wall, presumably to concentrate on not concentrating. It was a tricky balance when it came to sexual anticipation and Luke knew how far to draw or erase the lines that rested between them. 

Placing a hand at the top of her spine, he grabbed her neck and bent her forward so that she was spread enough to allow his fingers entrance. He held her in this position with his right as his left hand wiped a healthy amount of gel over her firm, pinched hole. 

“I won’t tell you to relax again. Take a deep breath and ease your muscles, Mara, or this won’t be nearly as much fun, for me, as I’d like it to be.” The words came unchecked and he felt a slight remorse tug at his conscious mind – he didn’t want to force pleasure onto her but didn’t want her to know that. 

The balance. 

“Skywalker, if you’re going to do it then just d-” Mara ceased her bark as Luke smacked her readied and partially exposed sex, immediately shutting her down. “You don’t give me orders, Jade, you take them. You’re the one wearing the tunic this time, not me.” He did it again just to study the tremors that shot through her and an amused realization sprung to mind, “You like that, don’t you? It’s okay, you can tell me.” 

Jade forced herself into a standing position, and Luke generously released her neck out of intrigue. The fiery woman turned her head just enough to glimpse the Jedi at her rear, her face darkened by his brazen actions. The wild red-gold mane sat felled to one side still and her hairline had already begun to bead over with sweat, “I love it, just like I lo–” 

Luke silenced the unwelcome musings by going forehead to forehead with her, their noses pressed and exhaled air being shared, “If you utter those words, I’ll ruin you.” 

She didn’t. 

Her head wilted, eyes casted towards the ground...but she smirked, mind undoubtedly saving the scene to revisit in the future. He knew how she operated. Knew she was baiting in hopes that he might lose control. That way Jade would ultimately have something to hold over him in the future, as he had with her. 

But he when the dark side didn’t come skittering over like he had expected it to, he felt confident with his hold on the situation from this point beyond.

Not waiting another moment, Luke placed her into the downward facing position again, his hand wrapped almost entirely around the back half of her neck this time. No more interruptions – he didn’t think he could stomach any other sidelines or pauses. Every molecule in his body screamed with the need to be inside of her, so desperately and completely. 

For good measure he slapped at her slit once more before pushing the pre-slicked index finger knuckle-deep into Mara’s tight backside. He wouldn’t enter her until she was properly stretched and warmed up, and so he put the work in, ensuring neither of them would experience the worst of what should be a pleasurable situation. It was all part of his game and one he was, admittedly, happy to indulge in. 

Mara stilled as his finger bored deeper into her, opting to breathe through the sting and any forthcoming sensations versus playing verbal charades. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as the first time Skywalker’s hands had penetrate her, and so she focused on inhaling and exhaling while he opened her up. 

He didn’t wait to submerge the one fully before adding in another to move the process along. His own body was vibrating with anticipation; as she sucked in two of his fingers without complaint, he began to feel himself stir with the risings of his own orgasm. _‘No, Luke. Not now. Not just yet.’_

He battled for control as his hand worked of its own volition, turning and moving so steadily, creating a rhythm that set his soul on fire. A chasm of want formed during this, one so vast and consuming, it threatened to swallow him whole. 

It wasn’t long before he added a third, entering into her dark depths without preamble or any subsequent problems. He repeated the same motions – twisting the trio around each other, spreading them apart just-so, sliding in, sliding out – before finally making the judgement call that he had been waiting for. 

“It appears as if you’re ready for me. So opened and eager – who knew that virgin asshole would be so willing? And so easy to take...” 

Mara bucked her hips in protest but let slip a throaty moan; the feeling of him plunging in further as a result of her brash action had fanned the flames of a fire. An ache was born within the empty and untouched hole at her front, her cunt drip-dropping and begging to be filled. The urge went beyond reason, clouding her mind with a want as great as his own. But she wouldn’t beg. Mara Jade would _not_ beg. 

“I guess I underestimated the amount of Vader in you, Skywalker. Who knew you were such an advocate for the Sith...” 

Luke stopped and exited his fingers, satisfied that she was prepared to take him. If she could throw out snarky retorts, she could take whatever he was going to give. Wiping his fingers with Duragel, he gripped her sculpted and full cheeks with both hands. 

He wouldn’t play into her assertions though – they were merely there to cover the nervous energy riling the very ends of her. The same nerves that lead her to feign _emotions_ for him.

“Your baiting words hold no water in this room, no significance that would deter me from taking back what you’ve stolen from me. I’ve waited a very long time for this, Mara.” 

Slipping his undergarments down one leg and then off from the other, Luke discarded them without another thought. He was naked and so stiff that it neared painful levels; it had felt like forever since he first imagined this moment, and there was only one thing remaining, the Astroglide. 

Gripping the canister and pressing its pump, Luke pooled a healthy amount of the chilled liquid onto his left hand; he squeezed the release a few more times above her sex – she yelped at the cool temperature of it – watching as the slippery substance covered all areas between her legs. He heard a long plume of air puff out from Mara but felt her strength and focus emanating brightly. 

Smoothing his palms together, Luke transferred the gel from one hand to the next before moving on. Gripping and rubbing his impressive length, shivers amassed over his entire body; when he neared the tip of his penis, he needed a moment to check whether or not his self control would hold on long enough to finish the journey as he intended it. 

Skywalker didn’t speak or tell her to relax, nor did he breathe as he placed the head of his hardened cock at the pinched and wet opening of her rear. This was it, a moment nearly seven years in the making. 

He paused – running his gelled member up and over both of her entrances, he teased her, and himself, while letting the full gravity of it press down onto his psyche. All of those long, torturous nights alone, but never truly alone, fighting the phantoms and demons she had created inside of him. 

The brand on his chest, the agony of the iron, the echoes of her laughter. It was all too much to handle for one person. 

Luke pushed inside of Mara in one steady, slow movement. He grunted and she moaned, his hands holding tight to her curvy, motionless hips. She said something, but Luke couldn’t hear over the massive bout of heat that altogether engulfed him. Gazing south, he no longer saw any part of him as it had been consumed by Mara Jade’s asshole; he allowed his head fall as he stayed there, unmoving, the feeling of her body adjusting to his driving him towards an edge he had wasn’t certain he’d come back from. 

He wanted to go fast, to crash into Jade again and again until there no longer existed a him or a her but a _them_. He couldn’t do this, and wouldn’t, for fear of causing her true harm, but Luke knew he had to get moving before this ended far too quickly. 

So he did. Pulling out completely, Luke watched as her ass went from a gaping black hole to a rosy-pink bud, and then he pushed inside of her again. His mind was blank, a void, as every thought fell to the wayside and all that existed was this feeling. Luke dwelled on it, watching as he kriffed the woman in front of him. 

Mara was speaking, saying things, not in a negative tone but in a fevered pitch, and eventually Luke returned to the now and listened in. She was whimpering, her body shaking beneath his. The sounds were not words but rather a long string of nonsensical, non-verbal mutterings. Jade’s head was still facing down but Luke needed to see and hear the expressions up close, even if it was just the one side of her. 

Penetrating Mara with his full length, he reached around with his right hand and grabbed her throat, guiding his devil to a near-stood position. He curved forward to make the transition easier, his body refusing to break away from hers. He held her there for a moment, then shifted her face to meet his, and Luke almost convulsed at the image she presented: Jade’s mouth was hanging open, sweat running down from her temples and green eyes zeroing in like a missile guidance system. It was evident by all appearances that she was in a hyper state of submission and Skywalker could have easily fell apart had he not practiced the discipline to combat such a thing. 

Hand still on her throat, Luke pulled out and then pushed in, his cock spreading her apart in one slow-going motion. Gazing at her as he went, he saw that the deeper his length went, the more creased her brow became, eyes collapsing shut – her brain unable to process Luke inside of her and sight itself. 

But her mouth – two red lips formed a circle as she sucked in air, gasping as though her life depended on it, and perhaps it did. He moved one of his fingers from her throat into that opened hole and she greeted it hungrily, her tongue licking shamelessly about the longer he kept it there. 

“It’s good, Mara, you’re so good. Taking all of me...taking…” He let his hands slide lower until they met her breasts, and he used both to grip and hold onto them as the chain bounced against her soft skin. Mara exhaled and moved her mouth close to his, but he refused it, instead redirecting slightly so that his forehead rested against her wild mane. “No, no kissing, it’s no..t allowed…” 

Mara bit her teeth together, grinding them while simultaneously trying to pull free from the cuffs, “Let me touch you. Dammit, Skywalker, I want, no, _need_...” 

Luke picked up the pace, feeling an orgasm growing in the hollow and untouched opening at her front. “I want you leak all over the floor again, but not now, not...not tonight.” 

Mara nibbled at her lip and pushed her skull into Luke’s, this was the lesson she needed to learn, the part where she was denied and he’d be the one to take whatever he so desired. “Yes, Mara, yes, _that_. I...I can’t-” 

Luke pulled out of her and held her an arms length apart from his chest, eliciting another bout of whimpers and throaty, disappointed sighs. “Luke, no...don’t stop, don’t…I have to feel you inside of my cunt, too. Just–please. I won’t come, I won’t. Trust me.” 

Begging. _She was begging._

Luke shook his head, reapplied a palmful of Astroglide to both his hardened self and her openings, and ran his fingers over and into the space before reentering. “I could keep you here, for one hundred and sixty-seven days and never trust you, Jade. I could...I co-” 

“Then ke-keep me here and do what you want, just don’t stop or walk a-away anymore.” Broken words and fervent breaths were being drowned out by the sounds of their pleasure, sounds that filled the cantina’s halls like the music that once flowed here – Luke knew an end wasn’t too far off. Either he stopped or he wouldn’t be able to. 

“Why should I finish in you now? Why...why should I allow you to know what th-that’s like? For me, or you?” A tremor tore through Luke and without realizing it, he wrapped his arms around Mara’s middle and held on, his lips pressing against the sweaty skin of her exposed neck. Realizing he was too close, the scene too charged with emotion, he tugged on the chain link that hung between her nipples, earning a quick howl and hiss – inadvertently causing an Mara to tightly clench around his buried member. 

For a brief second Luke mistook the contracting muscles for an orgasm and nearly spilled himself into her, his body shaking with the need to release. But the contraction ebbed too soon and she returned to herself, “Sith’s hell... You–because you want me, Luke, you’ve always wanted me. And I...I’ve always l–”

Hearing her words, every fiber of his body responded to their truth despite himself, despite the time and years spent battling her memory. He shivered and let go of the durasteel line between her breasts and embraced her; pushing inside of her rear hard and fast, faster than he ever had up to this point, Luke knew the mistake had already been made. The shattered Jedi Master was beyond the point of no return, consciously acknowledging all that was about to take place. 

Laying his forehead against her shoulder, against the gray of his own inmate’s wear, Luke closed his eyes and emptied himself inside of Mara Jade. 

“Oh, no.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait but long chapter was long! :)
> 
> Also: Decaf coffee, various breads and cakes sent to thank my amazing beta, Meo, who wields the digital red sword (re: marker) and puts me right back on course time and again! xx


	8. a truth apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Luke copes with what he has just done, a meal and a long overdue conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY for taking so long to post this. I struggled the entire time getting through every word - chapter 7 was such a beast and obviously the climax of this fic, so to come down from it was a damn hard fall. Anyone else experience this when writing? 
> 
> Thanks for being amazing and not sending out the hounds. x

Luke’s arms were wound tight to Mara’s middle, forehead caught between the base of her skull and the top of her spine. Breathing became something like a steep mountain to him; the air in his lungs felt thin, as if it were wholly void of sustenance – or perhaps this was merely the work of his imagination. 

“Skyw-” Luke's right palm closed over Mara’s mouth in a flash of movement. A broken-sounding “sh-hh…” was all he could manage after, as the Jedi’s focus was lost still to the detonation that had torn throughout his body. 

Luke realized his untimely orgasm had been a surprise, even to him...but not necessarily an unwelcome experience. Aside from the physical gratifications it brought, he was staggered more from the unsaid implications of his broken control; he knew the battles that lay ahead now that a fundamental weakness had been unexpectedly exposed. All that he had once held over Mara would, without question, be called to the forefront over the next day or so. 

But in this moment, here, his body still physically connected with the woman who has haunted his dreams and fractured every shred of reality, Luke felt...remorse. As though he had abandoned the part of himself he had worked so long and so hard reconstructing; in one instant, Mara had taken from Skywalker the very thing she had never asked for. In that brief burst of unrepentant energy, Luke showed he was still the man she had kidnapped, enslaved and tortured. 

He wondered idly if he had ever truly escaped at all.

It was too much – he couldn’t process this new and learned information while still buried inside of her – Luke needed distance, perspective. To leave, to walk away. 

But with her? Without? Should he end the charade and the scheming entirely? 

He couldn’t leave her alone here, that was out of the question, but to–“Luke?” 

Jade’s voice slipped through his fingers, resonating like a hesitant, shaken thing, grasping at it’s last in spite of the hope that still lived there. Her voice was low but words easily discernible: “It’s okay. You know it’s okay, right?” 

His mind felt like a bespattered mess of discontent and body-numbing satisfaction. Under different circumstances, Luke would have felt triumphant, cocky even, but those emotions had long since gone and a sexual conquest wasn’t something to be celebrated nowadays. 

Pulling out of her, Luke stepped away slowly, watching thick drops of his come fall and slide out of her, cutting trails down her thigh as they went. He twitched at the sight, his hand angling forward in a blind effort to push it back inside, where he felt it rightly belonged. After everything he had done to get them to this point, to see his efforts drip from her was unnerving – as though all of it had already begun to go to waste. 

He thought better of the idea and instead reached for a towel and the duragel, doing first a preliminary wipe-down before sterilizing his hands. Rubbing the exodus seed off of her flushed skin after, Luke took care to move the towel gently between the apex of her legs, knowing full well she would be sore. 

Distractions, a regimen was needed now more than ever – and there was nothing more routine than cleansing oneself. 

Making short, thorough work of washing his body, Luke gathered and used a fresh set of supplies, mimicking his actions from a handful of hours ago. He didn’t think on or contemplate his recent choices whilst washing, nor did he pay any mind the grandiose plans or the potential fallout from what he had just done. Luke simply cleansed his body, head to heel, and existed within the movements of two purposeful hands. 

Finishing, Luke tossed the soaked washcloth and towel to the side and moved towards his guest to undertake her own make-shift ‘fresher. He knew she was in need of it as much as he had been and rather than waste time placing her into a Force-sleep and then removing all restraints, he let Mara remain as-is. 

Only a few changes need be made, starting first with the removal of his gray, tied, sweaty tunic. 

Retrieving a collapsible pair of bandage scissors from a nearby medi-kit, Luke clipped the fabric from Mara’s arms, throwing the tattered remains one by one onto a shelf. Halting, what he would later liken to an epiphany came to him: the weighty memories weren’t attached to the object but rather to the person he had shared them with. 

The tunic meant nothing, Mara meant ever– _‘Mara is your final tether to the Empire of your father, nothing more, Luke. Nothing more.’_ His head shook away the fated whispers threatening to overrun reason and sense, as now was neither the time nor place to wax on issues of the heart. 

Running the durasteel cutters one sleeve at a time, he worked with a renewed, refined precision; as Skywalker wasn’t about to shear Jade into sectional fragments, he considered just how close this act might be in regards to voluntarily severing that link with the past. Yet, despite better judgement and the rational side of his brain that told him the cloth was simply a cloth, the actions...worked. 

As he held the final strip in his hand, Luke kneaded the material between an index finger and a thumb; feeling the burden of its memory fade the longer it remained there, he exhaled long and slow, breathing out the past. It wasn’t long before the eviscerated tunic felt...lighter, softer, less ominous. 

It was as though he had finally been freed from the Empire’s cell by a physical, guttural refusal to be its prisoner any longer. For now that the fabric had been reduced to scraps, to a nothingness, Luke only had the remembrance of his giver left behind. 

Laying the last of the cloth where it would stay until properly disposed of, Luke nodded at the gray before turning his attention back to the red devil of the tomb. Another chapter ended between them, another possession exorcised. And yet, neither knew how many demons endured in the endless unsaid words that made up their history. 

He breathed deep and shut his eyes, allowing the respite to come without protestation, then began to ready a new set of ‘fresher supplies he would need for Mara. It didn’t take long; hot water in the basin, hairwash gel, soap, a towel – all items gathered and laid out, ready for the routine task ahead. 

_‘Roses and rain, always the same.’_ Not willing to waste any efforts on the mundane or inner musings, Luke prepped quickly and went to it. 

Starting in on Jade’s hair, he slid it off from the side of her shoulder – messy, unkempt waves of crimson now laid against her naked back and Luke was unable to swallow away the resurgence of memory. Visions of _why_ he had initially draped Jade’s fire came to him unbidden: by moving her mane out of the way, it allowed Luke to see the lustful lack of grace changing her features. As he pushed completely inside of Mara, he was capable of seeing that confident, biting mouth gaped open in ecstasy, and he was the cause and effect. 

He growled low at the visage, recalling how badly he wanted to put himself in between those gasping, whimpering lips. Luke knew what _that_ felt like – Mara had forced him down her throat more than a few times during their five and half month stay together – but that climactic moment existed only to take her. To take from Jade what no other had ever dared risk to take. 

The Jedi Master conquered Jade in a show of absolute power and control, had her begging and so deeply detached from all the characteristics that made her who she was. Luke _had_ been hardpressed to maintain these ideals for the duration, to exert his dominance and will in a just, safe manner. 

Right up until he spilled himself inside of her.

Biting his lower lip, his head turned to shun the new ghosts created with her – now was the time for distraction, now was the time for routine. 

It would earn him no rest nor reward dwelling on the stress fractures that marred his manifested exterior. There would be time and silence later, time when he would analyze and judge. But not now. 

“You’re a difficult woman, you know that, don’t you?” 

Mara said nothing, but tilted her head in agreement. 

Tilting Jade’s head, Luke poured a few glassfuls of clean, heated liquid from an inch or so above her; as the water seeped through the lengthy hair, he watched it drip onto her backside one drop at a time. Luke saw, and felt, himself stiffen at the sight – the lust, the want screamed to life and seared through his veins, begging for attention. Laying a palm over his mouth and shutting his eyes, he worked to ignore the desire run rampant in his groin for the second time in as many minutes. 

_‘This woman will be the death of you, Skywalker. Better to start preparing for the funeral while you’ve still got the sense.’_

As the water soaked in, Jade’s hair transformed into an inky, dangerous looking pool of blood, the red waves drowning every trace of gold that once lived there. The Jedi ran his hands into its endless depths, working the water evenly ensuring a proper wash.

Squeezing two credits worth of gel onto his palms, Luke massaged it into her scalp, running ten fingers from the tip of Mara’s hairline to the long, wet strands clinging to the center of her back. He repeated this a few times, the sweat and lingering stickiness that their intense session had generated slowly being washed away. 

His hands nearly dipped lower, an unseen force, one not related to his hissing serpent, seeming to guide him. At the last Skywalker refused the urges, stopped and bent down, ridding the washgel and foam from his hands. It was time to rinse her and no more.

But Jade took his pause and subsequent return to indulge in a bit of vexing; as he rinsed her red and stolen-gold, Luke followed a mess of bubbles that fell and glided over the curves of her bottom. She arched up at that, knowing he couldn’t resist the sight, knowing he would be watching to see what she might do. 

Her skin felt feverish to the touch – vibrations tearing through in a passionate, desperate ache for him – and in the small of her back was now trapped a tiny collect of the foamy run-off. Luke smiled before pushing her rear down, inserting distance by his front – she would not get what she wanted from him. Reactions or otherwise. 

As she was remanded in the cuffs and stood still, this made it easier for Luke in certain ways and dreadfully difficult in others. Namely: as his lustful demon was inarguably awake, it wouldn’t stop talking or trying to get a rise out of him. 

“That felt nice, you washing my hair. Maybe I’ll pay you a few times a month and we can get together just for this. It’d be worth it, Skywalker.” 

Smug. 

Mara was conversing with him as though she weren’t mounted against a wall with a loosened asshole and fresh bruises circling her wrists and ankles. As though he hadn’t used her and offered nothing in return. 

Luke pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed at his eyes – an ache to silence this new confidence of hers prickled, but his body so physically wrecked it was a Death Star miracle he was even standing. Deciding quickly, the Jedi Master refused to acknowledge Mara’s mutterings beyond what they were, instead letting the hollow noise fall onto deaf ears as he finished with the northernmost part of her. 

“Oh and...don’t forget the clamps – they’re starting to pinch a little too much, and not in the fun way.” Jade wiggled and for the second time in as many minutes, her rosy-pink backside came close to Luke’s bare front, a move undoubtedly meant to emphasize the swinging chain...and her appetite. Luke heard a hiss as the links weight dragged her nipples down and into a quick half-loop, and he grinned as the humor of it all filtered into him. She deserved as much. 

Sliding around to the stand between Mara and the wall she was kept to, Luke held her at the hip, eyeing her from red to bare. Using his rooted hands he guided her middle from one side to the next in a slow rhythm, mimicking the plea she had just done, inevitably causing the clamps to pull south again. Green eyes bored into blue and Mara shamelessly licked her mouth in response, “So are you going to finish the job? I see you’re ready, and since you didn’t leave time for me to come...” 

Mara tried to shift her body weight so that her face and torso were nearer to Luke, two ruby-red lips zeroing in dangerously, a brazen show of the absence of submissiveness. “I’m dripping, Skywalker, please just...I’ll be quick… And maybe what you did to me the other night could happen again? That was–” 

Luke put a finger to her lips, quieting Mara, before feathering it down to her breast, never breaking their gaze. He was inundated with choices, paths he could take and a plethora of options available to him...but what did _he_ want? Did he break his control apart completely and give in to this seductress, now, after relinquishing a sect of himself a mere _one_ time? 

He withdrew the clamps and let the metal free-fall to the floor, an unimportant thing to be remembered later. Leaving behind his fingers, they rested, paused at the curve of her breast in anticipation. 

Luke didn’t stay halted too long; drawing slow circles around the perked, reddened nipple, he smirked at the cacophony of sounds elicited – a quick pull of air followed by a shivered moan – it was obvious Jade was falling fast into an alluring sea of hunger. 

Yet, all Luke was willing to do, at present, was tease the woman in want. To play _his_ part.

Taking full hold of her soft, sensitive flesh with both hands, and Luke closed the gap between them, his hardness now pressed against her belly. Mara breathed in sharply and let her head drop, two wild green eyes gazing at the salacious sight: skin on skin, bodies rising and falling in a rhythmic tune – there seemed nothing left to do but explore and enjoy the each other’s company. 

“Mmm, this is getting good, Skywalker...” As a few more fevered, unsteady breaths wracked at Mara, she silenced every thought and focused on the feel of having him against her. To feel that longing, to sense the storm that raged within. 

“I want you, Skywalker, I _want_ you inside of me. Not my ass, but _me_.”

Luke’s brows raised at her words and he knew what needed to be done. Bending slightly at the knee, this aligned their bodies to a near perfect state of a lover’s pose. He was there, positioned by her waiting, readied slit. All that remained was the required force to push inside. 

The things Mara Jade was inwardly uttering though; Luke could hear every filthy nothing she screamed within the confines of her thoughts, and his physical self nearly disobeyed the facade and took her because of those unsaid words. 

...He wouldn’t fully, not yet. Luke was strong enough to refuse the conflicts of his inner war, abled enough to overcome a pure form of lust and Mara’s _not-so-Mara_ begging. Too many things needed to happen yet, too many words needed to be said, aloud, between them.

But an affirmation of Luke’s strength, of this reinstated and once more refined control, might very well earn him a quieted, behaved little pet again... 

Applying just the right amount of pressure for the tip of Luke’s length to spread Mara apart, he paused there and gripped his fingers around her waist again. His mouth came near to Jade’s forehead, “I bet you’d like for me to fill you up, to leave you spent, used and hanging on this wall, wouldn’t you?” Two forest-colored eyes snapped to meet his before narrowing in suspicion of Luke’s sudden tantalizing mood. 

“Listen, Skywalker, no one can...fill me the way _you_ are capable of, understand? Please, give me this…I’m not asking for you to release me from your fantasy cantina or profess your undying love, just...kriff a girl.”

Mara’s plea came across as both condescending and desperate, a last-ditch ruse used in the hopes of distraction while her body tried to push directly down onto his. A skillful, sneaky move that would ultimately find Luke wholly inside if executed properly – which was precisely what she desired of him. 

Luke put a full-stop on this quicker than Mara had anticipated; by reaffirming his grip on the prominent bones of her waistline, he slowly pulled his body south, distancing himself from her heat.

“But...why should I give you anything?” Luke freed the use of one hand and placed it on her jaw, directing Mara’s gaze onto his. “Why do you feel entitled to get all you want from me? Tell me, Jade. Tell me what makes _you_ so deserving.” 

Jade’s eyebrows pulled in on themselves as her chin wilted in his palm – another display in an ambition of earning favor. _“You_ deserve it, Skywalker, not me. This isn’t about–well no, this time technically would be for me but you’d obviously benefit from the exchange, too. I don’t see what the problem is.” 

Luke exhaled at that and shifted to hold her throat, intentionally stopping at a climactic moment, allowing time and silence to impregnate the space between them. He angled forward and rested nose to nose with Jade, nearly closing the gap. He gave no warning as he pushed completely into her, the inferno within Mara’s core burning every part of him. Luke’s soul was alight, whole, complete. 

She consumed him, wrapped around him – they melded together as if created just for this very purpose. She breathed his name and the air that escaped from between her shaking lips somehow came as his own. 

Yet...as swift as he entered, Luke’s exit followed, with one smooth pull. He stepped to the side and ignored the fraught pleas spilling out of her, and two fierce eyes bored into him; Luke knew he had shown his discipline enough to not be begged over like some pathetic thing sucking down its last gulp of air. And yet, she was doing just that. 

Her blatant attempts didn’t seem to outwardly affect him as much as he suspected they might, or should have, and Mara noted this. 

“That’s all _we_ get, Mara. Stop pleading and let me finish washing you – then we’ll eat and talk at length.”

Mara gave a final whimper of defiance before her skull fell beneath its own weight; her drying hair laid in one great heap by nape of her neck, the strands stretching down to touch the small of her back. She was hanging there, as if in stasis, emerald eyes sealing out the white light from above as her chest heaved with unexpected resignation, and found confusion. 

“How are you able to deny what you want? To hold back the truth that you _want_ me.” 

Luke’s hands froze, the foamed washcloth pressed motionless against Mara’s belly. Had she really just said that, to _him?_ Did she accuse him of denying _her_ and somehow disguise within the question feigned affection? Was this being used as ammunition? 

The pair of too-blue eyes closed as his pulse rate increased, and the gravity of an ever-present shadow slowly spun nearer, its trail tethered to him; the irrefutable pull clouded his thoughts and left to ruin his immediate plans, in a way only the darkness could conjure.

The soapy washcloth fell to the mat below, forgotten for a moment; it formed a pool in the spot vacant between Mara’s separated legs, lying there, its purpose forsaken for the time being. Luke couldn’t stop the fury anymore than Mara had wished to incite it, and without preamble, he reached for the same abandoned Bantha flogger he had used during their first session together. 

“Skywalker, what–” 

He was behind her again, this time shivering from an all too familiar and bone-deep wrath, versus the physical need that had torn him apart earlier. His control felt absolute a few moments ago, yet now it seemed to be vanishing with each passing second. 

Holding the leather object out to his left, Luke gave Jade a once-over and unbidden it came to him: a flash of his cock buried inside of her, suctioned in by an unused, virgin hole. The vision played tricks on his conscious mind, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy; did he want her or did Luke desire to punish her? 

What was the truth and would it reveal itself in due time – Luke wondered this and more as he staggered backwards, the barrage of images overwhelming him. Luke let slip the flogger, the sound of it crashing down seeming to echo on for miles within the cantina. 

“Luke? Skywalker, are you alright? Talk to me...” Mara tried to peer over her shoulder but the limited range of motion allotted by her restrictive position saw her lacking. “...Kriff!” 

Luke walked away and sat on a nearby step, the cool duracrete reminding him of the processing cell he had dreamed of just last night. And the tunic. The tunic he had now severed into pieces with the intent to dispose of. 

How had everything changed so drastically and without him noticing? How could this darkness, _his_ darkness, call upon him without hesitation or consideration? Luke couldn’t breathe through the deluge – his chest felt constricted, as though the serpent hadn’t ever truly receded but rather coiled around him, binding itself to him one spiral at a time. 

His head fell into his palms, shoulders slumping – it was becoming painfully aware that he couldn’t keep this going much longer. The cracks were leaking profusely now, the damage done nearly irreparable, and all the reticent dancing in the galaxy couldn’t cease whatever fate had long ago determined for them. _‘Distractions, distract yourself, Luke, redirect.’_

He rose but didn’t make to move. “Jade, you and I need to eat. I’m going to finish washing you, in silence, and then we’ll have food.” 

Mara winced at the robotic chill emanating off of Luke – he wasn’t coping well with the turn of events and she knew this next day would determine not only her providence but his as well. It was a delicate balance of will versus want, of justifiable revenge – even the need for closure would suffice enough. Though Mara wanted to believe she was giving him what was needed, she wasn’t certain it was what he wanted. 

“Release my hands and I’ll finish. You can get the food prepared for us during.” 

Skywalker’s back was towards her so he was incapable of judging whether or not any mischievous glint lived within her statement, but he nodded anyway, and walked towards her. “Just your wrists, Mara.” 

Releasing the stun cuffs, her arms fell in the span of a blink and she staggered, falling into him. He caught her, his arms wrapped around her middle.

“Thanks, Skywalker. Or maybe you should be thanking me?” 

Luke looked over her shoulder at the placement of his hands: One cupping her left breast, the other just below her right. Stifling a scoff, Luke steadied her before haphazardly lengthening the space between. “Accidents happen, Jade. Simple, meaningless accidents. It would serve you well to remember that.” 

He retrieved his undergarments from where they had been abandoned and slipped them on, snapping the waistband for good measure. 

“And do I get something to wear?” Mara was bent forward and washing her feet, easing the cloth below the cuff’s band as much as she was able to. Luke watched her in amusement, choosing to ignore the fact that his earlier show of reaffirmed dominance appeared to have no lasting effect on her. 

_‘Or are you playing the game against me, Jade?’_ Luke thought to himself, mulling over how easily it was for her to change moods – much like him. He would battle the darkness one minute and in the next he would find himself kissing her. 

This experience was far more unnerving than he had originally intended for it to be, and though he’s heard all his life that the best laid plans always go to waste, Luke didn’t believe that yet of this situation. Different, unexpected, yes, but wasteful? Skywalker couldn’t see things that way. Or rather refused to. 

“Dry off and I’ll bring the white uniform for you – the one you wore the other day. And hurry up, there wasn’t much of you left to wash...it shouldn’t be taking this long.”

†††

“With all the flavors you remember, this ‘Tatooine Classic’ is more than just _inkabunga–_ it’s Home!”

Luke read the food’s advertising label aloud and laughed to himself. He had packed this “Tatooine” dish on a whim – he didn’t miss that cursed desert planet anymore than he longed for the return of the Emperor, but this meal always reminded him of Owen and Beru, and that was reason enough.

“Inkabunga?” Mara was sat across from him, clothed in white and leaning forward, curious, her eyebrows lifted and pulled together, clearly invested. 

“I would have imagined you’d be familiar with Huttese, Jade, being a Galaxy-wide smuggler and all…” Luke ripped the perforated top off of two food packs and, using a fork, placed their contents into a large saucepan, separating and spreading the Bantha steaks to ensure an even cook. He was using the ancient cantina’s cookers, running a makeshift line of fuel from a small tank he had brought from home. 

Details, details. He had planned and considered everything when it came to undertaking such a devious expedition, knowing full well if he forgot a single facet, it could spell the worst.

“It means ‘amazing,’ by the way.” Jade gave a half smile before nodding, “I know, I just wanted to see if you’d tell me or offer some sort of smart-mouthed retort. I was rewarded as expected.” Luke bounced his head left and right before returning focus onto the task at hand: preparing food for two extremely hungry people.

Over the last two days, they had inadvertently missed a pair of meals, and Luke was weak, shaky, only this time not as a result of his adrenaline or his history with Mara – he was hungry. Stomach-rumbling, wobbly-knees hungry. And he had little doubt Jade felt the same. They had remained hydrated and cleansed, but sustenance was sorely lacking, and loathe as Luke was to release her from the wall, it had to be done. 

She now was sat, one wrist cuffed to a horizontal pipe that ran the length of the Sleeping Rose’s bar-top. She was secured properly and yet remained able-bodied – purposely self-sufficient to feed herself, which was precisely why he had agreed to eat here versus bringing their meals over to the mat. 

“So what’s on the menu, Chef Skywalker? It smells...not local.” Mara tried to peek over Luke’s shoulder as he flipped the close to well-done steaks but he shifted his stance at that, intentionally severing her line of sight. “A little mystery in life never hurt anyone, Jade. Be patient.” 

Mara settled down onto her rear and winced...a hiss of air escaping at the unexpected sting that shot through her. She was sore from what he had done to her, what they had done together, and though she had known there might be physical ramifications to their intensities, she hadn’t thought it would be so ...biting. 

Luke turned at the sound and looked her over, studying to find what might have been the root cause, while another part of him still suspected the worst from her. 

“Don’t try and slip the binder, Mara. I’ll gladly eat both of these strips myself.” 

A tilt of her jaw followed by an obviously exaggerated eye-roll greeted Luke as Jade readjusted her position, placing more weight onto her left ischium to offset the pain. It was a marginal effort but one that allowed her the comforts of being somewhere other than chained to a wall or the cantina’s floor. 

“No cuff-slippage here, Master Skywalker, just a bit of a sore spot south of my spine is all.” She folded her hands together and stretched her arms out, away from her torso; the muscles were tight from being strung up and hardly used – she ached to go for a run or spend an hour saber training. Anything to shake the whining, unseen nerves that wouldn’t seem to leave her alone. 

Mara sniffed the air and her hands gripped the edges of the bar-top in anticipation, “Mmm, is it done yet? I’ll have you know that I’ve all but died of starvation at this point.” 

Luke laughed – a real, actual sound – and nodded, “So this is Ghost Mara that I’m speaking with then? It’ll be done in a moment. Can you be trusted with utensils or will I need to hold onto them?” 

Mara exhaled and smirked, “A joke, eh? And you’ll have to decide that fate for yourself. But know this, that meal of yours won’t go to waste.” 

“A fork it is, then.” 

Sliding Mara’s portions onto a plate, he added two slices of artisan-style bread and set her meal down in front of her. “Tatooine classic: Bantha steak with a side of Tusken loaf.” He didn’t turn away from her, rather, remained as he was; standing across with his plate sharing the space just north of hers, Luke ate quietly and with little to no eye contact. 

“This is simple but delicious, Skywalker. Where did you find a Tatooine import on Coruscant? I know this planet has just about every kind of cuisine but this seems an extremely rare find.” 

Luke had pre-cut her strip into manageable sections, as he wasn’t about to supply her with a knife, regardless of how severed her connection to the Force may be. Mara Jade was a dangerous woman and he wouldn’t take any chances. Especially not when he was as hungry as he was. 

“I know a guy who knows a guy and so on. I treat myself to a family favorite every once and again.” He realized his poor choice of words as they came unexpectedly, knowing it would draw him into a conversation he was loathe to have. 

“Family? As in Darth Vader? Or…?” 

And there it was. 

“No, not Vader. I had an Aunt and Uncle once. Murdered on orders given by Vader, actually. But that’s something I’d rather not discuss, if it’s all the same to you.” 

Mara’s neck jutted backwards in mock offense, her shoulders rising only to fall shortly thereafter – she was pretending not to care, and Luke could see through those tell-tale actions as clear as a pane of glass. 

They finished quickly, the duo nearly inhaling their dinners and an entire kettle’s worth of water. “That was some damn fine eats, Master Jedi. Do we get dessert or…?” 

Mara tapped a napkin to her lips in mock elegance before gazing forward, only to be met with two very intense ocean-blue eyes staring back at her. She glanced around a few times, “Do I have something on my face, Skywalker?”

“I want to know why you never let me orgasm. Why you branded me and who truly pulled the strings. Did Vader ever know I was there? And, Jade, I need to know why _you_ helped me escape. No more games this time, tell me the truth.” 

His face was ashen, gone pale from what could possibly be an endless, frightening new world that lay ahead. The past would no longer exist in his mind as a mirage, but as a true, living reality. He felt unsure of whether or not he could handle the facts of their history versus never knowing them at all, but Luke knew he had to accept the finality of Mara’s professed words. Whatever they were. Despite any uncertainty that would surely ripple throughout the remainder of his days, in the end, he needed to know. 

“Jumping right in with both feet, aren’t we?” Mara leaned back and nibbled on a patch of dry skin on her bottom lip. “What does it matter? Now, here, after all that you– _we_ have just been through, where does that ancient history factor?” 

Luke moved in close to Jade, resting his palms on the worn tabletop surface. “Answer my questions. It doesn’t, or shouldn’t, matter to you why I need to know the truth of the past.” 

“Well, I’ll start at the beginning. Don’t interrupt. Questions at the end of the lesson, or I won’t say a snippet more, deal?” 

Luke crossed his arms at the middle of his chest and sighed, nodding in annoyed discontent. Any power he allowed her to have was less from him. It was the balance, after all, that maintained the sanity of his mind and stayed the actions of his hands.

Nevertheless, she had what he desired, and so he was at the mercy of this burning need to know, a prisoner not with bars or chain or drugs, but rather to this unobtainable knowledge he had sought for so long. 

She stretched, swallowed down an entire glass of water and then opened her mouth. 

“To begin: I was never the one to pull the strings. I was a puppet, a detainee if you will, just as you said to me the other day. Palpatine always called the shots, every single one of them. You were to be his new apprentice, replacing your father. I was simply the means to achieve that end – nothing more. I was remanded to that cell just as you were, only my job was to use any exploratory and deviances necessary to gain Rebellion intelligence and if I couldn’t do that, then I was ordered to break you. And after a while of going back and forth, day and night with you, I...I passingly suggested we tattoo you with the Galactic Empire’s insignia, so that if or when you were delivered back to the Alliance, they would always...wonder about you. They’d be eternally curious if you’d been turned and were being used as subterfuge to shatter the ranks from the inside out.” 

Mara stopped abruptly, head falling in shame, “Palpatine loved the idea of you wearing an eternal mark, only he...he mutated my original comment. It went from being a harmless tattoo into an iron brand of my name, because then he would _know_ my dedication and commitment to his Empire. If I could do that, if I was capable of...th-then he’d know my loyalty was absolute. So I did. And I regret it every day of my life, I do, Skywalker.” 

Her eyes rose up to meet Luke’s and where she thought she might find a sliver of compassion or understanding, she found...nothing. This type of emptiness wasn’t necessarily bad, though. He wasn’t flying into a rage, rather he was merely processing the information and judging further it within his mind. 

At least that’s what she was telling herself. 

“As for the orgasm denial and all the sexual trickery? That was in part due to the fact that I am a fan of sadism, if it wasn’t clear by now. I _did_ have orders to do those things, yes. Only...I deviated from one. Which lead to your escape and a whole world of hurt for me.” 

Another break for air, or for an infusion of courage to continue on; Mara found it easier to talk to him when he wasn’t under the dark side’s influence – though his mandated silence was beginning to set her teeth on edge. _‘Best just to get it all out, Jade.’_

“I was never supposed to deny you, not once. The Emperor wanted...he believed that if you were unable to be broken, unable to cooperate with his very plain, very simple requests, then your life was forfeit. _Your life_...but not a child of yours.”

Mara’s hands covered her face as the Emperor’s voice echoed, and the remembrance of this, of the nightmares lain dormant now likened to a physical assault inside of her mind. But it was more than that – more than just the real memories. 

Projected images of her with a swollen belly, living in the Empire as a feared woman carrying a powerful man’s progeny. A progeny she would never come to know. Flashes of this future child, of an infant she would long to connect with, were ripped away, and an innocent life would be irreversibly marred – changed into something evil and demonic. 

“I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t damn an unborn life to Palpatine, regardless of its parentage. So I...I played a game of my own. I reported inconsistencies in your overall physical response and repeated non-disclosures when it came to Rebellion intel. I preached to Palpatine that you would end up begging me, pleading desperately – willing and able to do whatever was needed to achieve that climactic bliss. But _only_ if I denied you, habitually, over a period of time. The stall satiated him for a long while. And then he tired of the charade and ordered a surgical procedure – a disposable fertility implant. I would have been with child immediately and you would not be long for this world.” 

Another halt, another deep breath. “And I couldn’t kill you any more than I was willing to supply the Emperor with a life I helped to create. I _was_ loyal to a fault, but I am no devil, Luke.” 

Sitting back, she tilted her head and coughed slightly, picking at a forgotten bread crumb that had somehow avoided being swept away. If only she could be so lucky. 

“Vader never knew you were there, either. Palpatine went to great lengths to disguise his subterranean meanderings – he knew precisely what would have resulted had the Sith Lord known.” 

A respite, a moment of silence. The words turned her stomach as Luke listened quietly, taking in every bit of information and working it over and over until it reached its logical conclusion. 

“And as for why I helped you escape? Well–”

Luke uncrossed his arms and placed them elbow-down onto the warped and faded wood, leaning in, “You ran out of time because the implant wore off. You needed to come up with a solution so it was either kill me or save me. Palpatine wouldn’t dare repeat the surgical practice again, so you were left with two options. And...you chose to save me.”

Mara nodded but said no words, there was little room for that now. 

“One problem with this story of yours...wouldn’t he have killed you? Surely he must have known you assisted in the great Empire getaway…” 

Jade grinned and scrunched her nose as if she had sniffed something acrid, “well, this is where my loyalties fractured, if it wasn’t obvious by now. It’s not as if I was romantic and gentle during the escape, if you recall.”

Luke bobbed his head and raised his brows at that, the barrage of images from that day seeping into his conscious mind one frame at a time. 

“See, I fabricated the entire sequence of events leading up to that night just-so, just right, to ensure that it looked like you had managed to take advantage of the daily routine. I was especially rough with you the night before, and so when it came time to wash you, I falsified the night’s medication with a placebo and viciously...attacked you. You were beyond exhaustion, so hungry and beaten bloody that you couldn’t see the forest through the trees. That is to say, you fought back and I knew you didn’t know why or who you were battling with. It was an unsaid point of no return for you – either fight or die, but either way the suffering had to end. I pushed you to that point so that it would ultimately lead to your escape. I couldn’t...I couldn’t bare to see you-”

She silenced herself for the last time, pulling her arms back as far as the single binder would allow. The steel bit into her skin, and she groaned a low, sad sound, her body fatigued and thoughts heavy by the burden of guilt she owned. 

“You’ve said twice tonight that you couldn’t kill me. And a few times earlier you’ve mentioned similar. Why? I understand the reasoning behind never wanting a child of yours in the hands of such evil, but why orchestrate a grand facade? Why risk being found out? Why did saving my life matter?” 

The forests of Endor rose to meet a raging blue sea and as they stared at one another, Mara knew. She knew what she felt for him wasn’t a lie, wasn’t a thing to be trifled with or dismissed. It never was. 

It had been born in the fires of the Empire’s dungeons, but never refined into something tangible or beautiful. At least, not until this moment. 

“You know why, Skywalker.” 

He leaned in close, his face and hers separated by only a few inches of unoccupied space.

“I’m not sure that I do, Jade.” Luke was vocally leading Mara towards the truth and yet a part of him, a big part, was still screaming in refusal. To never hear what he had just asked her to say. 

She tipped her jaw outwards suddenly and bit his bottom lip, rolling the pink flesh gently between her teeth. He pulled back and with it went his mouth; he stared at her quietly, assessing the situation, knowing full well why she was stalling. He’d have responded the same way. 

“Where did you find the gray tunic again? After I had worn it in the holding cell, I never saw it again until you threw it at me as I was running naked through a blackened hallway. Where did you get it?” 

Mara laughed and turned her head towards the shelf where the torn and shredded cloth was now laying. “Those were standard issue for prisoners back then. I had a supply closet located just outside of the cell – you are aware that it wasn’t the same tunic from the processing center, Skywalker. It was just a gray tunic.” 

Luke chuffed and let his head slump forward, an ugly realization that the pedestal he had put such an unimportant trophy on had never been never worthy of such idolatry. 

“Would you have still let me go even if you had done what Palpatine asked for?” Luke was learning with each passing minute just how deep the sadism ran within him; being a glutton for punishment extended far beyond the physical realm but he needed answers tonight more than ever before. 

“Are you asking me if I would have killed you after becoming pregnant with your son or daughter?” They remained close to one another, the rest of the cantina suddenly disappearing, all that existed now lived in the air between them. 

“Yes, I am. Could you have done that? Clearly you weren’t the monster I always thought you to be. I–” Luke stopped abruptly and pulled away from Mara, spinning around and clearly shunning her. 

He hunched forward over the warmed cooker-top and Jade noticed his shoulders shaking, knees so weakened suddenly that they nearly knocked into one another. 

“Skywalker, what’s wrong? What just happened? I didn’t even answer you, I didn’t–” 

Luke whirled around and used the Force to release her bound wrist, sweat already forming at his hairline. His adrenaline kicked into overdrive and leached him free of all weakness. He was heaving in shallow gasps of air, his hands grasping and letting go in quick succession. 

“What the hell is–” 

Luke sped around the bar counter and pulled her down off the stool; grabbing hold of her wrist, he dragged her back towards the plasteel mat, saying nothing as they went. She bounced alongside him, unsure and uncertain, but not frightened. He had left the cuff behind in his haste but seemed nonplussed by it. She was wondering idly if now would be a good time to remind him of this when he suddenly whirled her around to face him. 

“Y-you were _never_ the true monster, were you? You were the puppet, the tool, the robot. And I, what I’ve done here, what I wanted to do for so long. Mara, I wanted to hurt you so viciously, so deeply and...for what purpose? Tell me, when you burned your namesake into me and you laughed at my agony, was that true emotion? Or was it what Palpatine desired of you? When you slapped my balls or pulled on them or scraped your teeth just a little too hard or bound my wrists or starved me or drew blood, so much damn kriffing blood, was that the Emperor or was that _you?_ ” 

Luke was holding strong to her hands, his eyes wild and fervent. Mara recognized the animal within his hurricane-battered gaze but it wasn’t the serpent, no, this beast was frightened, looking for both reprimand and justification. He didn’t want to be wrong but he didn’t need to be right. 

“Skywalker, are you afraid that what you’ve tried to recreate here was based entirely on false pretenses? And if that were the truth, you have somehow done **me** an injustice?”

Jade lifted her hands out of his grasp and cradled Luke’s face, “I was a monster Luke, just not the brand you thought I was. I had strings, I had eyes on me, and life or death orders. Yes, I was loyal but those things I did to you? They were wrong. I knew it then but pushed beyond my conscience because I hated you when you first entered that Force-forsaken cell. _Hated_ you.” 

He was focusing on her and slowly coming back down from whatever precipice he had inexpertly attempted to scale. Taking her words to heart and listening with precision focus, he absorbed her tone and the relatively relaxed disposition he sensed through the Force. 

“So what you’ve done here, yes, it’s a little insane and appears to look a whole lot like the dark side but take a gander at me – look, Luke. There’s not a thing _wrong_ with me. Outside of a few minor stun cuff scrapes and a sore asshole, that’s it. At least, what you’ve done. No one can change the sadist that lives within me, I’ve accepted that a long time ago. And hey, in our hours here, I’ve never refused you, never begged to be released or wept from fear. You never...you weren’t me.”

Luke closed his eyes and allowed his head to wither in her hands. The panic that had set in when his brain finally processed those long awaited spoken truths was blinding, all-encompassing. The darkness had never been so far away from him as it was now – he felt every bit like a failing Jedi Master but for the first time since before he had entered that Empire’s hole in the ground, he felt...guilt. Not only for what he had done here but more for the teachings he held so close to his heart. 

“Why have you and I never talked? Why did it take me kidnapping, restraining and dominating you to get to these truths?” Luke questioned without opening his eyes, his breath finally returned to a normal, rhythmic state. 

Mara grinned and placed her forehead against his dimpled chin.

“I was going to try and talk with you once. You stared so hard and long at me, I thought I might very well burst into flame. Figured you weren’t ready yet. Understandably so. I’m the cause of all of this, Skywalker. No blame rests on you.” 

Luke let go of her arms and stepped away, fully aware that she was not restrained, nor was he in prime state to deal with any sort of rash exodus. 

“Do you want to leave now? You’re free to go, if you want.” 

Mara thought on this, the path to the doorway was shrouded in darkness but her keen sense of direction left her feeling confident she knew her way out of here.

“No, I don’t want to leave. Not yet.” 

Turning his body halfway around to face her, he stood, stilled by her words; her Force presence remained muted but her thoughts were honest and true. She didn’t want to go from here, or from him. 

“Why? Why not take the out? You can head back and tell everyone in the Galaxy how completely Sith and twisted their Jedi Master is. Tell Talon how I smacked and assaulted you, and help gather the assassination team.” 

Jade ignored his pitiful diatribe and slowly began to unbutton her white top, eyes never leaving his. 

“You learned the worst of humanity six and a half years ago, from me. You didn’t deserve that, even I knew you deserved so much more, despite what I felt for you at the beginning. I deserve better, too, now. Let’s leave the binders on the wall...let’s make this right.” 

Watching Jade, he followed along as two free, unbound hands slid down the center of her chest, nails scraping the pale skin that lived there. The long-sleeved shirt floated down to the floor, its absence leaving her exposed from the waist up; his eyes centered on the tattoo eternally etched into her skin – _167_ – and his breath hitched. 

“I spent one-hundred and sixty-seven days in hell and all that time, I never knew you were my cellmate.” 

He swallowed, exhaled, and went to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can see, things are slowing down a bit (or are they?). Chapter 9 will be the final chapter in this fic but will come with a small epilogue which will set up the sequel. :)


	9. ad finem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Healing, conversations, and a holo.

They stand there, staring at one another as time and space works its hardest to fan the flames of war – to wage an endless battle that never longs to see an end. Neither of them knew what to say...would words be enough to fill the silence or lessen the pain that had grown between them? Could Luke forgive Mara, or himself, for all the horrors they had endured? Could Mara see beyond his darkness, beyond the shattered infrastructure straight to the man who lay trapped beneath its rubble? 

One half of them believed in the possibility of change, willfully accepted the healing powers of a linear calendar. This woman, this crimson-haired faithful, had experienced such alterations firsthand, so there were no traces of doubt within her – Jade _knew_ Luke could be returned. Not necessarily given back in the way he might envision, but rather come home as a reformed version of himself. A man who understood and embraced the passage of his past versus one who might work tirelessly to undo all that could never be undone. 

A fruitless labor was the ineluctable outcome to what Luke had done here, and they both knew this now. Yet, Mara wasn’t convinced Skywalker was prepared to let go, or even capable of grasping such a weighty concept. 

The ironclad grip of their past selves that latched onto him was just that – iron – immovable and fortified against any weaknesses that tried to sway him. But Jade caught a glimpse of it then, there, inside of two drowning pools of blue – everything started with her, and therefore must end with her. 

“It can be better, Skywalker, easier.” 

Luke stood before Mara, arms pressed at his sides, muscles pulled and visibly rigid. His breath came in short heaves, and his glare was directed only on her hair – despite all there was in front of him, Luke descried nothing beyond the red-gold tufts that circled her angular face. He _wanted_ to look down upon her bare, perfectly sculpted form, to reach out and touch a hard woman’s soft skin and revel in the warmth that awaited him there. 

He wanted this more than she knew. 

But that would, of course, welcome pleasure, thus invite an unequivocal weakness; he couldn’t give in to it, so once again, he refused to allow the indulgence. Mara wasn’t all that interested in robot Skywalker though, and cared little for exterior displays of strength and fortitude. She knew what she wanted – knew what he _needed_ – and it came down to one simple fact: enough was enough. 

“Put your hands on me.” 

Five words. Mara offered her entire self to the Jedi Master in a handful of letters. The one who had kidnapped, bound, smacked, and kriffed her over the course of nearly three unusual days. There were to be no strings attached, no chains or cuffs or Bantha bits. It was nothing more than a woman, giving herself to a man. 

Luke could see this, could read Jade’s intentions on the surface of her skin, not bothering to listen in any deeper than that. “I...can’t.” 

Mara watched as he reticently disassembled himself in front of her, stripping any trace of emotion down to its bone. “I can feel you through the Force, and that conflict, the one you’ve been at odds with since bringing me here, is beyond deafening. Let me in, just this once before it’s all over. Let this happen, let yourself-” 

Closing the minimal distance, Luke wrapped his arms around Mara and buried his head into the crook of her neck. He breathed her in, his eyes sealed and mind shifting from a place of darkness to that of ...roses and rain. She was here, real, alive in his arms and open – not merely in a physical realm but in every possible way one person could be for another. 

He wanted to remain this way, never to move again or leave and analyze ad nauseum all of the time they had shared, both before with the Empire at the helm as well as now. He didn’t want what they built here to change by the hands of passing time, Luke didn’t want to forget. 

“How? I can’t sever that link, can’t remove the darkness from my DNA anymore than you can wish the past into something it never was. How, Mara?” 

Jade flinched at the desperation laid bare within his voice, could hear the uncertainty and truthfulness to how blind and inexperienced he was at all of this. Letting someone in, or rather, letting a misunderstood phantom through, was not a thing Luke ever expected he might allow – there were no manuals for such an act. That is to say, he was ill prepared and completely knocked off his axis, mind little more than a mixed slurry of confusion and hesitancy. 

“Lay down, Skywalker.” Mara whispered the words through a small knot of Luke’s hair, and his body instantly tensed up again. She expected this, “I won’t hurt you. And I know you won’t believe me until you have solid proof, but, try to believe. _Try_. You are more than able to stop me at any time. There are no chains, drugs or cages and I’d have no use for them even if there were.” 

Luke pulled away but kept his arms coiled around her middle, and she realized he didn’t dare be the one to break their contact. She noted this before easing her hands through his hair and then lower onto his jawline, taking a moment to simply touch and feel him. 

His skin felt warm and the unshaven stubble that he wore when they first settled into the Rose had now grown into more of a short, closely-cropped beard. There were splashes of gray amidst the wood-brown color of his hair, and Mara found she liked the way he looked. “This suits you, it’s really handsome,” she ran her nails over the coarse texture on his face and smiled. 

Saying nothing, he allowed her the indulgence, studying her eyes as they followed the path her of her wandering fingers. He sighed, severing the quiet; it was obvious he wanted so badly to believe in her, but years of mutated memories and misconstrued motives lined the hallowed halls of all that he now was. 

“Lie down, Luke.” 

He closed his eyes at that and soundlessly acquiesced before releasing his grasp on her and kneeling atop the plasteel mat. She mimicked his movements and positioned herself to his front, their hands reconnecting to various points of each other’s body, neither one brazen enough to break the spell completely. 

“Stretch your legs out, Skywalker, relax…” 

Her words were searching and yet within them was laced the assurance of a woman who knew what she was doing. And Mara Jade _did_ know what she was doing this go around, as no part of her was insincere or false; Luke would have undoubtedly suspected this, if she chose to act as anything to the contrary. 

Consciously and without regret, Jade made the decision not to leave him alone in this Sith-forsaken cantina, but rather stay and show him how true healing can work. What it can feel like, and that, no matter what came before or may come after, they could have _this_ – Mara could do this, if he allowed her that chance. 

He heeded her request and shifted so that he was now sat, legs pressed flat onto the floor; Mara wasted no time sliding the fresh pair of crisp, white trousers down and off of her before settling into his lap. 

As Jade pressed against him, the warmth of her bare skin radiated through thin layers of his clothing, to which he still wore. His body instinctively responded to hers, as it always had, as he suspected it always would. Luke felt no shame in this, no hesitation, and so when he wrapped his arms around her torso again, he didn’t question if this was the right thing to do. He simply _did_. 

“I want you to know what it feels like again, to be with someone you don’t need to hurt. To touch a body and connect with it in the here and now versus some phantom version from years past. I want you to let go, to-” Luke silenced her by covering Mara’s mouth with his own; he was far too taken by the feel of her body grinding down against him to rationalize away his actions. To stop. 

His hips acted on their own accord and returned the favor; heightening his middle to join and parody Jade’s movements, becoming two inseparable forms flowing against each other in one perfectly timed rhythm. 

She was lost, Luke’s hesitation wholly abandoned, but the darkness that laid hidden away so quietly began to slither and snake towards them. It had timed an intentional return, coiled and remanded until the right moment to strike with the full force of a thousand Siths presented itself. 

Luke felt this, his body tensing by the introduction of the phantom charge; an unseen surge of energy tore through him and before he realized what had happened, Mara’s wrists were caught, held firmly within two shaking hands. 

“Luke?” She could speak now, as their mouths had broken apart during such an abrupt stop to their indulgences. He stared at her, his chest rising and falling, limbs shaking and mind caught in a maelstrom of what he wanted and what was needed. This was surprising for Skywalker – only a few moments prior, he believed these two were one and the same, but now, suddenly he wasn’t so certain.

It was during this moment of confusion that Mara saw the return of the serpent, and it arrived in the form of tiny tendrils of crackling electricity that leapt from the tips of Luke’s fingers. The sparks made contact with Jade’s semi-raw, binder-pink skin and she froze; saying nothing as the rush peaked, she waited it out versus running or unintentionally starting another war with ill-timed words. 

A growl emanated from somewhere deep within Luke’s chest and Mara winced, eyes unblinking as she couldn’t begin to grasp the internal struggle he was inundated with. This darkness was a co-pilot, Jade recognized that now, but whoever ended up flying would be the one to call the shots. She prayed to the Force it wouldn’t be the beast. 

Skywalker’s head fell, chin languishing against the smooth texture of his shirt, its weight suddenly too great a burden to hold up on its own. His eyes closed for fear of what Mara might see within them, for fear of what might finally take place, and yet, the rational part of his brain knew they were as blue as the day he had been born. 

Born as a son to no father and a mother who had died not minutes after birthing him and his sister. Born untainted but with cursed blood running through his veins, so it was no shock to find that the darkness had sought him out time and time again. 

He couldn’t banish it completely – Luke knew the shadow world would never retreat, never stay gone, despite his powerful counter presence. So, rather than risk Force lightning or physically realizing a fear of amber-tinted eyes, he did the only thing he knew how: compromised. 

It came to him quick, this simple, logical solution, and Skywalker didn’t attempt to sway or deter himself from following through. He just _might_ be capable of giving Jade what it was she’s searching for, but only if he held the reigns, called the stuns. And only if she acquiesced to this. 

“I need to be in control, Mara. I...I can’t change or forget what happened, I can’t give you that power over me, not now, not here. Maybe not ever.” Jade didn’t move but rather released the tension in her muscles, submitting fully, “Then guide me, Luke, tell me what you want me to do, hold me how you need, I’ll relinquish to you, just don’t chain me to a wall or refuse yourself.” 

Blue eyes sealed out the light, his jaw flexed as he swallowed, chin still perched on top his chest – there would be no going back from here. Luke would never be able to recreate what had been crafted so expertly in this cantina, should Mara’s seductive therapy fail to produce the results she was so eager to find. 

Skywalker stood upon a precipice, a future with two clear pathways and all he had to do was ...choose. 

Lifting his head, their eyes met and she knew – he would try. Luke would attempt to undertake a feat he never imagined and Mara could think of nothing to say, so she smiled. It was a small, settled sort of grin, not nearly of the kind she’d paint for possible trades in the smuggling world, but it was genuine and for him only. 

Releasing her for the sole purpose of disrobing, Luke eased his shirt up and off of his heated torso, the chill of the cantina all at once a bite and an invitation. Reapplying his hold onto her, he used his right hand only to restrict Jade’s wrists, holding each of them within the robotic confines of his prosthesis. His freed left reached down to tap her naked hips, a signal for her to rise so that he could remove his trousers. 

He discarded the garments carelessly to one side and then used the same hand to wrap around her slender waistline. Luke held onto the prominent bones of her physique, an anchor with which he would keep her to him. Bringing her down to rest against him, Jade’s sex laid atop his own, and he shivered at the sudden flush of fire that leached into him. 

“This won’t mean forgiveness, or reconciliation for what you or I have done to each other. It can’t undo anything or make things right, as you so eloquently put. It’s...it’s just a kriff.” 

Mara nodded silently and bit her bottom lip; lush, fever-red hair had fallen to surround her face in an exuberant display of color and suggestion – she was ready for him, for whatever came next. Luke almost laughed at the intensity of the sight but the humor vanished as swiftly as it had come: Mara moved her slick center up an inch or so where it once sat pressed against his hardened length. 

Luke groaned a measure, “Did I ask you to do that?” Mara’s chin dropped and her eyelashes batted at him, her face a transformative mix between of a wicked pout and a slight tilt to her head. “Sexy _and_ petulant now? Who are you and what have you done with the real Mara Jade?” 

He was stalling and she knew it, was calling him on it even. “Okay, Jade, okay.” He licked his lips and gritted his teeth, “You can’t touch me or ask for anything. And don’t you _dare_ say a single word that you’d otherwise never use elsewhere.” 

She nodded again, batted her eyelashes again and pouted, again. Luke smiled that time, recognizing her play and mentally readying himself for a game of his own. The hand that held her wrists moved off to the side, her arms not fully outstretched but not closed entirely either. He settled his back as much as he could without support of any kind before, “Lift your hips up and push yourself down onto me, slowly. No fingers this time, no anal, just me, inside of you.” 

“I want that, Skywalker, that’s _all_ I want.”

He leaned in and kissed her cheek lightly, then moved farther back to lick and nip at an earlobe; his teeth continued on, scraping the length of her neck, finally settling into the crook of her shoulder, “Tell me why you want this, why this will make it right for you and I. Tell me as I enter you and don’t stop speaking, or I will end this.” 

Mara sighed and shivered at his touch, his firm words, his body so hard and close to her. With his left hand still molded to her right hip, she guided her slick and waiting opening down onto Luke, lowering one focused inch at a time. “I...I think, no – I know – it’ll give back what was taken from you, from the Empire and myself and from these last few d-days…” Having taken all of him in, Mara stuttered, her eyes shutting and head falling backwards. 

Lost now, she was drowning in an ocean of satisfaction enhanced and made whole by a man she should, in every sense, fear and hate. But she didn’t, couldn’t, and her body was tangible proof of this. “How will it give anything back to me, Jade? More and more it seems like I’m giving to _you_ rather than the other way around.” 

Exhaling, her hands gripped at each other, an ache to reach out touch his warmth, to grab his shoulders or run her fingers through that semi-long hair. But it went beyond this – she was on fire and wanted Luke to see that for what it was, to behold all that he was doing to her from the inside out – she wanted to have him understand why this mattered. 

Mara wanted to play with her untouched breasts as she rose and fell on him, to smack and pinch at herself, reveling in the sting in would bring. Pain and pleasure enticed her, and she knew from everything that happened these last few days that Luke clearly felt the same way. More than anything though, Jade wanted to feel his cock go rigid, and watch as _she_ brought him to orgasm. 

“You are...right n-now, but, but I have no Master this time, no evil missions or di-rectives to follow. You can fill me, Luke, you can come inside of me as many times as you want and there will be no–ahh yes…” 

Mara’s words ceased as she ground her hips harder onto him, without permission, and he slammed into her as a warning. “I didn’t tell you to do that, Jade, just up, down, for now. Keep talking.” 

Luke leaned back to watch as she rode him, releasing her middle to grab hold of the wrist it held a few moments earlier. Each of his hands now held hers and as he gripped, he could sense the tension mounting by the strain of her arms. “No Master, no plans, just two consenting adults kriffing on Coruscant together. No-thing other than that.” 

Licking his suddenly dry lips, “Nothing? So you and I could be anyone, perhaps two lost wanderers who found themselves in an abandoned cantina without their clothes on… Very unlikely, Jade. Stay down on me and grind now, I like those hips, show me what you can do with them.” 

Mara bared her teeth in a devilish smile before doing as was told; he was engulfed by her completely, and as she roamed her lower half side to side, making slow circles on him, Luke felt his body and mind come alight. “S’good, Mara, real good. You like riding me, don’t you?” 

She shrugged and grinned, “I like riding big cock, and yours has always been my favorite.” Luke blanched at first, the implication of him not being the only man in her life obviously an attempt to steal control from him. But he knew this was another game, nothing more. “I guess we don’t need to kriff then, as you seem to be a well-satisfied woman.” 

Jade narrowed her eyes before closing them, returning her thoughts to the sensations spreading from the base of her outwards. “Please don’t ask me to stop. And by the way, just because I don’t have _that_ Master anymore, doesn’t mean _you_ can’t be my new Master.” 

Luke swallowed and groaned at that, her side-stepping words marking a territory in him he hadn’t realized he wanted claimed. “You’ve already paved a clear path to it here at the Sleeping Rose, you only need say the words.” 

He wanted to do that, to own her in some convoluted non-ownership way, but where that might lead or leave them, Skywalker couldn’t foresee. “How about you hush up and kiss me. And Jade, go harder on me, I want to watch you come undone. Might even let your arms free...we’ll see about the Master stuff.” 

She didn’t wait for a second invitation; shifting forward on him, Mara’s breasts crashed onto the name that had been burned into him, her name, their mouths following suit. Two tongues met in a perfect cadence of movement and allowance, kissing and openly exploring one another. Jade’s hands were pinned down against her thighs, and Luke breathed in as they shared each other’s orbit, his middle unapologetic in its rise and fall to the tune she created at his command. 

Her hips moved forward and backward, motioning side to side in a hypnotic pattern and it wasn’t long before she was losing her restraint, body working off of its own desires. The steady movements she ground into him eventually became staggered and out of sorts – Mara was close to orgasm and Luke could see, hear and feel its approach coming on. 

“Good, Jade, so damn good. Taking all me into that tight, beautiful hol–” Mara covered his mouth in the same instant Luke released her wrists. His hands wrapped around her back, pulling her in, pulling her close. He was near to the end as well, but neither wanted to be the first to succumb. Skywalker felt getting closer would go against his desires for power, thus stalled for time enough to invite the darkness and a halt to his climax. 

“Come with me, Luke, please, please pl-Force, it s’damn good…” Her arms looped around his neck as she rode him with unbidden fervency, the sound of their bodies slapping one another’s echoing out through the expansive Rose. 

“Let me see you, Mara, lean back and let me see you.” Luke was desperate to halt the inevitable for as long as he was humanly capable, but the end was nigh and Jade knew it. She didn’t pull away from him, instead holding tighter to his neck, weaving her fingers up and into his thick hair. 

“Let go, let go…I want it, Luke, give it all to me,” Mara’s hips jerked as her form went unbending from head to heel – all toes curling, eyes closing, arms tensing in one swift, fluid motion. She came, hard, her body trying to move on his to keep the momentum going before she ruined his chances. “Force, Luke, Siths hell, y-yes…” was all she could manage as the spasms overthrew all sense, as if possessing her. 

Luke pushed into her convulsing hole, hard, his cock desperate for release – and he could no longer deny or refuse the woman who literally begged for this to happen. “I’ll come for you Mara, Siths-spit, I’m coming for you alr-eady…” 

And he did. Luke spilled himself fully and completely within Mara Jade, his semen filling her up while simultaneously driving her wild. Having finished with her own orgasm, this sexual empress had resumed her skilled gyrating and riding of him, drawing out every last bit as her hands held him to her, his forehead pressed flush against her own. “I feel you emptying yourself inside of me, Luke, kriff, I love...it…” 

He physically couldn’t speak, though a part of him didn’t want to for fear of uttering all the things he never longed to say. Chills tore through his body and he pushed his head beyond hers to enclose his arms around her protectively. This moment was something different, something long sought after, something he wanted to share with Jade, but for so many reasons, leaving him unsure of which one was now fulfilled.

She laid the side of her head, hairline dappled with sweat, onto his shoulder and they stayed there, attached and quiet, for the next few moments. Just as when they had begun this journey tonight, neither was willing to move or speak for fear of disturbing an overdue stillness between them. 

It didn’t last nearly as much as was needed – a persistent chirping sound emanated from off to the side of the darkened hall, out and over towards the sink and supply area Luke frequented during their time here. 

“Your holo?” Mara inquired, breathing into his hair. The alarming noise became nothing short of a nuisance the longer it echoed, eventually rising in tone to signal the caller’s persistence.

Luke nodded and leaned back from her; he didn’t want to exit her yet, but the holo wouldn’t cease until he refused or accepted it, and nature had already found him softening inside of her. Jade did the work for him, lifting her legs off to the side and allowing gravity to tip her onto the mat so that she now laid there, serenely on her side. 

She stayed there, crossing both legs at the knees and propping her skull up by the palm of her hand. Mara was naked but full up on post-coital bliss – the cool air of the cantina had little to no effect on her or her heated skin. 

Luke ran clear across and through the darkened space towards the disruptive sound and then suddenly, the holo chirp was no more. Mara could hear his voice – it was quiet but stern, and from what little she could see of him within the shadow-draped room, it wasn’t a conversation he appeared too eager to have. 

Curiosity piqued, Jade stood and quietly walked towards Luke; he was sat on a stool near to the supply station, nodding his head for no one. Mara paused a few feet away, watching him as he spoke, seeing a faint glimmer catch in his eyes every time he blinked. He stared in her direction, studying the enticingly svelte silhouette, mind working to memorize all the curves, cuts and imperfections. 

“Talon, I apologize for going out of holo range with Mara, it wasn’t intentional. We’ve been busy coordinating small search and infiltration parties that will deploy in a few weeks’ time.” 

Mara’s head jutted back as she heard the name of who was speaking on the other line but the shock didn’t come from the reveal but rather, an immediate, knowing decision to refuse taking an out. Luke purposely said Karrde’s name understanding that Jade could very well scream or steal the holo and shatter everything he spent his life working towards...if she were so inclined. 

But it appeared to him that they were beyond such a plausible turn of events, if ever that was a thing Mara would even take to doing. She wasn’t the run-for-rescue type of woman, and Skywalker knew this – going so far as to blatantly take a chance on it, and it paid off. She remained silent, staring at him with indecipherable eyes as her arms crossed over her chest. 

“Yes, yes, we are trying to track down the shipment’s manifest to see who ordered the bulk drop and why specifically the Temple was targeted–” Luke stopped, presumably because Talon interrupted and in his silence, a thought came to Mara. 

Her boss, her peer, Mara’s friend, was on with her...whatever Skywalker was and though Jade was craving to return to work and regular life, she wasn’t ready for this charade to end just yet. Wasting no thought on the ethics behind such an impulsive decision, Mara went to Luke and lowered herself down in front of him.

The Jedi Master watched her the entire time, tilting his head and squinting his eyes in the low light for a chance at gaining a better view. Jade was there, between his legs; spreading his knees apart, all the while not making a single sound, Mara ran her the ends of her fingers up his thighs, pointed nails lightly scratching as they went. 

Luke breathed deeply at the barrage of sensation, nearly threw his hand out to stop her, but thought better of it at the last second. Intrigued to know where she was going and what she expected of him, he let her do as she pleased, despite the sibilation that demanded he take hold of the situation.

Karrde was quiet for a moment, Luke emerging from the haze to realize it was his cue to speak. 

“Talon, I assure you, Mara and I have worked tirelessly on formulating this plan. You know as much as I’d love to offer full disclosure, for the sake of my team and the Academy, I simply cannot. There is a fine line between–” Luke smiled when he was once again interrupted, knowing his coporate bit would elicit a mouthy response from a man of few words. 

Which, in turn, allowed Skywalker to pay full mind to the woman nestling up to his groin; as her hands finally found what they were searching for, his eyes closed, body working once again of its own volition. It was too underlit to see fully her intentions and though the thought of moving elsewhere in the cantina crossed Luke’s mind, he decided a little bit of mystery wouldn’t hurt.

Strong albeit small fingers wrapped around his firm erection, and he mumbled a quick “mmm” before remembering he was on a holo. Slowly she began to pump her hands – she stopped once to drop a hearty pool of spit on the tip of him before starting back up, hands slicked anew. Interesting that she would choose to do this now, given the other man’s voice on the call. 

“I-I completely understand your investments are tied up in this, not to mention you-r number one go-to for Spice trade. You have no-nothing to worry about.” It was a miracle he had made it through that stammering, unintelligible response to its end, despite the situation down below. 

Only Karrde wasn’t finished with his irate diatribe about how valuable Mara Jade was to the organization – or how foolish he had been to allow the time away knowing full well the profitable gains, and subsequent losses, that any given day might return. “I can have her back on Coruscant by twenty-one hundred hours tonight, standard time. And no, I’m sorry but she’s unavailable at the moment, Talon, I’m sor-” 

Talon’s words were biting but not disrespectful – he knew who he was speaking with. Luke had the sense that the smuggler would have loved to blame Skywalker, but ultimately it was himself he was so angered with for allowing Jade the time out of rotation. 

Luke’s eyes were still closed, head fallen and lying backwards now as he surrendered his body to the feeling, to revel in the slippery heat and pressure those skilled hands were bringing to him. Her Force energy felt determined, shining bright like a wicked thing scheming to serve its Master. There was no animosity there, only a once-feral but now tamed wildling yearning to be bad in all the right ways. 

So this was the result of Mara Jade getting her way. Luke wasn’t entirely uncomfortable with the unexpected outcome, rather he took to it quickly as it fit within the parameters of what he set out to achieve in this forgotten part of the world. He understood then that he didn’t desire her because she was a heeled pet, but rather because she could play the part flawlessly without it affecting who she truly was. 

_That_ was a strong woman, one he was willing to try for. As he had done only a conversation ago and seemingly will continue to do.

He was just about to speak when a quick gasp overtook him, followed by an unstoppable jerk that left him appearing dead in the water. Mara had taken Luke into her mouth, all the way down to the base of her throat – he was surrounded on every side, from tip to base and it was...pleasing. 

Her tongue wasted little time in its assault on him, lapping at him like splashes of cold fire; the slippery wet walls that was encompassed every inch birthed a fresh, growing ache far down in the base of his groin. 

There was an audible holler coming through the holo and Luke, who had let his hand holding the device drop, suddenly realized his error, “Oh–I, sorry, Talon, dropped the holo onto my foot. You were saying?” Those few words bought Luke another moment or two to absorb what was happening here, right this very second. 

Karrde had lessened his resolve a bit, vocally realizing it was useless to berate or accuse, when nothing at all had happened in the days Jade had been away from her primary method of employment. 

“So, twenty-one hundred hours? She will be there. I appreciate that, Talon. Give my best to the c-rew. Yes, yes, I’m fine, thank you and May the F-take care.” Luke abruptly ended the call and then turned his device off completely. 

After he had holo’d Talon from his apartment a few days prior, Luke set it to resume incoming notifications, alarmed to begin about an hour or so ago. Skywalker had believed that by then he would have at least half of the cantina packed and sorted, with Mara either running out the door in search of help or assisting him...but things hadn’t exactly gone according to plan.

None of those details mattered in this moment though, as her mouth sucked greedily at his spit-smeared member; she wasn’t without her own desires though, and as she serviced Luke, Mara’s hand traveled south to swat at her own desperately untouched sex. She was visibly trembling, her spine dipped towards the ground as her hips rocked back and forth – Jade was pantomiming, appearing as though she were being kriffed by him again. 

“Am I dripping out of you?” He couldn’t see beyond the darkness that swallowed them whole, didn’t need to – he could sense Jade using a pair of her fingers to force the leaked drops of his semen back up and into her. The shameless impulse to draw out and keep every last bit of him drove the Jedi wild, and his hands melded into her hair, working her impossibly lower on him. 

“Good, so ...good, Mar-” When she pulled him from between her lips, he knew what she intended: his own svelte seductress was going to offer her body to him again. And he would have taken it, had the conversation with Talon never happened. But she challenged him and so he would see to it that she finished what was started. 

“Put me back into that vicious mouth, Jade.” 

He didn’t wait for her to refute, instead brought himself up to meet her ruby-red lips, sliding the pre-come from his cock around before spreading them apart and pushing in completely. She was still pleasuring herself during, and Luke knew he wouldn’t last nearly as long as he should.

The sounds that bounced from each end of the abandoned cantina were virtually as good as the sensations themselves – drippy wet smacks and throaty slurps emanated all around, and Luke twitched at the thought of what a sight she must be right now. He admittedly always loved when she took him with her face in the Empire’s prison; Mara never bothered to care or tend to any saliva that was painted or splattered messily across her jaw or breasts – she merely went for it and that was that. But like everything else that had transpired in those long days, he had never been left to finish, and so this act would be yet another revelation. 

Luke began to vibrate and as his legs shuddered, he felt Mara’s Force energy light up, renewed with the power of achievement – she wanted this just as much as he did. Longing to take him as high as she could before it all became too much, before time ceased to matter and all there existed was simply this moment. 

“All the way down...suck harder, Jade, harder…” His red-headed vice obeyed, bobbing her head and working the muscles of her tongue to bring him to that precipice, where she would happily knock him over into pure bliss. 

It finally happened. Luke soared over that cliff and welcomed the deathless death with an animal-like greed, “Coming...c-oming, good so kriffing go-od…” His voice was broken but his soul was not, and Mara let him mumble and moan, never fully drawing him outside of her just yet. 

His seed came hot and quick, spilling onto her tongue where she swallowed it away, hungrily consuming another bit of him one spasm at a time. He tasted of salt and sea water, a perfect balance that was so purely _Luke Skywalker_ Mara nearly tumbled over the edge again at the thought of it all. 

All too soon it was over, and as she pulled her lips off from around him, he shivered, “Siths hell, Jade.” 

A low chortle emanated from her as she stood and began to walk towards the white mat, intent on doing what next, he wasn’t quite sure. Perhaps she wasn’t quite sure either. 

The finality of their situation, the sudden changing tides, was palpable in its entrance into the hall and the space around and between them. Her shields were reconstructing and though Luke was tempted to dismantle them one layer at a time, he couldn’t bother himself to do it. He’d rather watch the show play out versus ending its run. 

Sure enough, Mara didn’t disappoint. 

“Was Talon upset?” 

Luke laughed and sat forward on the stool, his legs weakened and pulse rate still ticking down from the fevered race it ran a few minutes earlier. “He wasn’t happy with himself, but I doubt you’ll see any repercussions from your time spent away. And hey, that was great, by the way.” 

Mara shrugged her shoulders before turning around, catching sight of him just as he stepped up and onto the plasteel to join her. “I figured it was about time you had that, too. Happy to hear it was well received.” 

Luke tilted his head, brows furrowing – he wasn’t certain how to interpret her confusing lackadaisical attitude, but wasn’t surprised by it either. Unable to choose whether or not he should call her on it or see it for what it was: the last event in a trio of unusually odd days together. 

“Well, thanks for that. You’ll be on your way, then?” 

It was Mara’s turn to jut her chin out, arms crossing at her middle to blanket two now-dry bare breasts. Still suspecting he knew what was going on, Luke felt his stomach drop, already seeing through Mara’s routine – a routine that would find him feeling ill in the hours to come. But again, he said nothing, again opting to watch the storm unfold in a forecast he predicted from the start. 

“Yes, I think it’d be best. I have to meet Karrde at twenty-one hundred hours – what time is it now? I’d like to get a jump on things. Speaking of, where are the clothes I came in here with?” 

Luke smirked and nodded his head. He ignored her and went to retrieve his own attire first, slowly slipping on each item one at a time until he was fully clothed in heel to head black. Appearing just as he had when they arrived here together. 

“They’re over there on the shelf by the tattered tunic, help yourself. I’ll be right back.” 

As Luke strode out into the pitch-black emptiness of the cantina, Mara peered at him until she lost track of him. Consumed by the shadowed void of the Sleeping Rose, Luke could have all but gone, had she not sensed his presence within the Force. 

Which was muted a bit more than normal, Jade noted. 

Mara mimicked his actions and dressed herself unhurriedly, taking in the smooth, silky feel of her Bantha leathers and the simply warmth a pair of socks gave back to her. She needed time to process every event that had taken place and she absolutely could not do that with Luke around. It was time to leave. 

The thought of exiting was all she could dwell on at current – every word she would say, every action she would take from now until those doors opened would be in the sole effort of getting out of the Rose and into the crisp Coruscanti air. 

_‘Too much, too fast, Jade. Get home. Just get home and then deal with it.’_ Her words were whispered to no one, but as she finished settling herself, the cantina lit up in one great show of dilapidated brilliance. Save for one area: the spot she had spent the last three days with Luke in was pristine and sterile and Mara silently thanked him for the small courtesy. 

“You’ll need this, too.” 

She turned on the balls of her feet fast, having not noticed he was standing there or even walked back from wherever he flipped the lighting switch from.

Luke was extending her lightsaber towards her, his own having been reconnected to the hook at his waistline. She knew he wouldn’t take any chances, and though Mara wanted to feel slighted by this unspoken show of hostility, she wasn’t exactly warm to him these past few moments. 

Since going down on him and getting what she wanted, Mara was nothing short of cold, and that was precisely what she needed to be.

Grabbing her saber from the steady grip he held on it, she took the sword and turned it over, reveling in the comfort its weight brought. The silent, unseen connection that all Force-users possessed with their weapons was unlike anything else, and Jade nodded to him in a quick surrender of appreciation. 

“I won’t say anything to Talon, you don’t need to worry about that. And I-” Luke quieted her down by stepping forward, his feet closing the great crater that tore apart any and all warmth they spent the better part of seventy hours building. 

“It’s twenty-seven thirty-two. You should get going before you’re late and I have another unwelcome conversation with your boss.” 

Mara could feel his breath on her skin like the dying light of sunset and she wanted so badly to reach out and feel him just one more time. But lingering on would earn her no favors and pressing any luck she left available – threatening her potential exodus – was not something she was interested in, no matter the surging tide of unfounded want that swept at her shores. 

“I’ll see you around then, Skywalker.” 

Luke swallowed at that and watched as she shifted to one side and walked past him. His eyes closed as the scent of her – the scent of himself on her lips remaining – permeated the air. 

It was over. 

The lock on the door cranked and then he heard the hinges squeal open before a brief pause, and then it slammed shut. 

He stood there, feeling her presence diminish by the second – she was running, fast, away from the Sleeping Rose and into the seedy depths of Coruscant. And now here he was, alone. 

Luke’s eyes opened to the barren scene that spread out and around in all directions; the cantina was awash by the neglect of time and nature’s own detritus but there were two spots full of human evidence he needed to rid the space of. There could be no trace that anyone was here, let alone Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade.

He could very well clean and pack each individual item one at time and dispose of them elsewhere, dropping bits and pieces of his sordid soul throughout the galaxy. Or he could destroy it all in one fell swoop and be done with it. 

Just as he had initially intended with Mara Jade. 

But things seldom go as planned, and that left him with only one option: demolish the cantina and everything within it. It’d be as if it never existed, and if he honed his control to a fine precision this was all well within his capabilities. 

There was one probable setback to this plan of action though, and that came in respects to his hissing, hidden serpent. What might become of it if he forced the darkness into the light? Would it respond in kind and stage a mass mobilization against him, freeing the Jedi Master of whatever goodness was left within? 

Luke brushed a hand through his disheveled hair and exhaled, allowing additional time to pass by so that Mara could properly distance herself from his locale. 

He walked away from the mat and towards the sink where his holo rested as well as the bag from home, now laid empty and open on the floor. Retrieving both, the device slid into his pocket while the bag was folded unto itself and slung over his shoulder to rest against his spine. These were the only objects he needed to take – not the lights, the matting, the torn tunic or duragel. Nothing else was needed. 

It was time; Luke brought the light as close to him as possible, reigning it in and focusing all his energy on the goodness that once made him the man he used to be, prior to Jade. It felt a lot like a hastened form of Jedi meditation but as far as Luke could surmise, it worked. 

Calm now, he directed his steps towards the door and opened it without moving a single limb. It would be quick, intense and dangerous, but he could bring it all down safely, and quietly. 

Luke thrust both of his arms out, palms-first, and just as he was about to wreak havoc, a glimmer reflected off of a deep-purple object lying on the floor. Walking to it, he realized it was the vibrowand, _The Emperor_ and a rage came home to visit so fast, so quick, that Luke hadn’t known what happened until after he finished.

†††

The saber hummed and his breath came in short, sucking gasps, and Luke felt feral, wild and uncontrollable. He stared blankly at the disarray of durasteel on the cantina wall – the bars were now hanging in bits and pieces, the metal twisted and scorched. The objects that had one sat on the shelving units were no more, as was the tunic, flogger and Astroglide.

Luke destroyed every last part of where they shared time together most, and he felt no remorse over his actions. He still sensed an incompletion, as though what he did here was just a stepping stone and not merely the path across the river itself. 

Deactivating his lightsaber, the green glow and the crystals hum faded, and was Luke thrown once more into shadow territory. Having cut down and disintegrated the lighting system he set up, the anger had not abated any, despite knowing that what he did wasn’t...right. Skywalker didn’t care. 

Easing the saber onto its place at his belt, he walked towards the door and stepped outside, pulling the handle closed behind him as he went. Stood unmoving there for a moment, Luke watched the flickering neon sign sizzle against the rain that poured down onto it. The sound surrounded him, echoing in the cavernous wasteland that made up his mind at current. 

The pop-and-fizzle of cold rain on heated, exposed gas reminded him of his red-venomous snake and this time, he welcomed it, invited it in, uncaring that he was forcing the light farther from his soul that it had ever gone. 

Knowing all the while how dangerous a game he was playing, Skywalker forged on, pulling his hood high to shroud his face in absolutes. This was a defining choice, a moment he had waited years to see – Luke was poised and ready to sever the link with his past, no matter how distant it saw the Jedi from his true self. Whatever that was.

During the time with Jade he came to accept his bloodline and the pitfalls it generated, but now, here, he would ride the line within a hair’s breadth. He _needed_ to see how deep he could go, how close he could come. Not because Mara played her part so perfectly, and not because Darth Vader was his father. Not even his month's worth of scheming could account for his impending actions. 

Luke simply needed to know if he was irreparable, if what Mara Jade had done to him went as deep as the brand or if she had burned his very soul in the process. 

If he could return from this, he’d never question the inner faith he held in relation to the Jedi teachings, never fear a future of pain and galaxy-wide domination by his own hands. 

Ceasing all thought, Luke’s arms stretched directly ahead and his Force energy blasted outwards from them. The ground began to quake, rattling nearby waste bins and dust-laden, gray windows – he sharpened his focus even farther onto the building and everything that lived within it, excluding all else. 

The cacophony of sound eased to a dull thrum, and the structure steadily began to come apart, one brick of duracrete at a time. The durasteel entranceway buckled, sucking the swinging pair of doors deep into the blackened pit that grew bigger with every invisible attack he directed onto it. 

The wide, expansive cantina bowed to his will, fracturing and crumbling into itself the longer he kept up the assault. Particulates billowed in the air, masking him in fine grains of ash and splintered wood; the sign fell last, just as he orchestrated and it was done: the Sleeping Rose was no more. 

“Luke?”

Turning his neck at the sound of _her_ voice, Skywalker lowered his gaze before removing the hood. “Why are you here?” 

Mara Jade stood frozen, staring at the dismantled and imploded site that laid out ahead of them. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t begin to even try and understand why this happened. Had she not given him what he needed? Was it not enough?

“Why are you still here, _Hand_?” 

Mara stepped closer, despite the fear electrifying every molecule that made up her very being. Squinting her eyes in shock and denial of what she just heard him say, she bared her teeth, “What did you just call me?” Angling forward, Mara leaned in close, earning her a clear line of sight to his...eyes. He turned away fast, knowing exactly what it was she was seeking.

“That’s what you were, that’s what you’ll always be. Just like I’ll always be...this.” Luke’s hand waved horizontally amidst the rubble, emphasizing a disassociation of solidarity and strength. She wouldn’t be deterred – wouldn’t believe it unless she could see the real, visual proof. Jade wouldn’t dare take a broken man by his word unless there was more to support these vague claims. 

“Look at me, Luke.” She took another step towards him, chancing freedom and risking the descension of a storm all over again. 

His face dipped south, mind torn by the grand reveal of one or two truths he wasn’t yet certain of – would he see the truth in her? But he could wait no longer, and, uttering not a single word, tilted his head, and two eyes looked directly at her. 

Mara stepped backwards at the sight that greeted her – two ocean-blue eyes lived there still, but their rims were glowing with a dangerous amber. It faded the longer Luke gazed at her, never blinking, but she saw it, plain as identifying janky Rebel Alliance attack formations from her former life. 

“L-Luke....” 

He straightened his back and reset the textured onyx fabric to its resting place atop his head, ocean-blues fully returned to their natural state by the time he finished. “You should go, you’re going to be late and I’d rather not converse with Talon later this evening.”

Mara reached to touch his shoulder but he stepped away before she made contact; he never actually saw her coming, but the Force bent to his will and every thought she had, every effort she wanted to put forth, would ultimately prove to be fruitless. He didn’t want to hurt Mara, never her, but what he had seen within those emerald eyes scared Luke more than he might ever frighten her. 

Needing to escape these hopeless circumstances, he distanced himself from the woman who had come back for him – that didn’t seem to matter, or couldn’t, not now at least. Slowly he dissolved into the the dark and thunderstruck night, where no footsteps could be heard, no traces of Luke Skywalker having ever existed in this time and place. 

Luke halted just ahead by the alley’s access point, and Mara nearly sprinted to meet him, believing he might have regained some sense. “Sky–”

Two whispered words stopped her, held her back from going to him, effectively ending any belief that she could ever make it right. Two words Mara would never forget. 

“Goodbye, Jade.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ad finem: "To the end" 
> 
> Well, that's the official final chapter of Reticent Darlings! I will post the epilogue in a few days' time and then work will immediately begin on the sequel. I'll save my mushy thank you's for the epilogue, but just know that I am swimming with emotion and I love all of you okay. Time for me to go before I say too much. 
> 
> I've already said too much, haven't I? ;) xx


	10. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place 11.5 weeks after "ad finem."

“It’s been nearly three months since that whole faux-Eldratz ordeal on Coruscant, Mara – are you ever going to tell us what really happened?” 

Mara busied herself tidying the personal workstation she had come to be as familiar with as her own home. Simultaneously she ignored the man, long past sharing any recount to events that never happened, at least not on record. 

“Ghent, hunting womp rats from the bowels of Coru is not a particularly entertaining story. I can't for the life of me figure out why you're searching for a mystery where there is none.” 

Zakarisz shook his hair dramatically, a bright blue mess whipping about before turning back towards his own station, unsettlingly placated for the moment. 

“Funny, last you told me, you were dismantling an insider smuggler ring to appease Skywalker. Time before that it was Bantha poachers. And still time before th–”

Mara leveled her eyes and stopped Ghent mid-way through whatever excuse she had fed to Karrde’s crew over the last few months. 

It wasn't their place to know all the facts of her life, despite how closely she worked with them over the years. Sharing with Talon had been hard enough, the idea of doing the same for a larger group, primarily made up of men, was even more unnerving. 

Ghent backed down, “Alright, alright. But don't expect me to take you on your word in the future.” 

A lump rose to the front of Jade’s throat at that – if the people she relied on and worked with year-round ultimately couldn't trust her, who would? It was a disturbing thought and just another point of disdain whenever _he_ came to mind. 

“Don't sulk, Jade, I'm just poking the cherfer.” 

Emerald eyes closed at that, an unhindered sigh escaping through thin lips. “Obviously you can't tell me what happened, and I can respect that. But say as much next time, yeah? Don't need to be pulled around by my–”

“S’enough Zak, get back to work.” Talon entered the computer and control systems bay and strode purposely towards Mara. Ghent had spun around on his seat, dipping his head into the green glow put off by his screen; two light-skinned hands searched for any resource to occupy themselves, avidly avoiding Karrde’s intensity in the process. 

“Jade, a moment?” 

Talon was unusually crisp and proper and Mara chose not to make him wait. Following her boss, and friend, out into the main hall of the Wild Karrde, Talon directed them to stand by the robust, and loud, drive engine doors. 

“Incoming transmission from Skywalker today. He requested an on-planet meet with you next month. He said you’d know where. On the fourteenth. This is the third time he’s sent this sort of message, Mara.”

Jade swallowed and winced, pulling at the leather by her waistline. “And, did you respond?” 

She couldn't think to say anything beyond that. 

“No. I placed the request on hold and recycled it back through the comms system. So he–”

“Won't know it’s been received yet. Smart, Talon.” 

Talon nodded and placed a hand on the vibrating door, “I have my moments. Anyway, you're scheduled to be on Yavin IV in a few days, just keep your eyes open, don't know where his current location will be by then. I could ask Zak to find out but I know you don't want him prying.” 

The red-haired smuggler dropped her head and grinned, “Karrde, I’m capable of handling Skywalker. Just don't want to, is all.”

Talon placed a hand on her shoulder, “I know very well what you're capable of, Mara. But I also know enough about him, too.” 

Flashes of the Sleeping Rose crumbling – duracrete walls fracturing and turned to dust particulates – strode past her vision as though she were watching a holo. She could almost taste the finely demolished grains of a structure that once was, and her heart felt that familiar ache. This pulling, gnawing emptiness she now associated with all things concerning Luke Skywalker. 

“I appreciate the heads-up, Talon.” 

He nodded, eyes appearing far more kind and warmer than she ever remembered them being. Perhaps it was pity she saw within? Or a fierce protectiveness that Karrde adopted upon hearing the truth of what had happened? Either way, Jade noted the subtle changes to her friend. 

Of course, she didn't supply _every_ detail to Talon – Force knows he couldn't handle some of the…messier bits, but Jade shared enough to explain her current predicament. Enough to gain a permanent side-stepper; Talon had jumped in and ceased leering eyes more than a few times, even going so far as to threaten the employment of the more pressing crew members. 

Mara doubted she could ever thank him enough for the faithful comradery. When she tried, he would shrug and act as if it were the most natural thing in the galaxy, to stand by and support her. It was just another thing she was indebted to him for.

“How long will your reassignment be? I never asked for a solid schedule, and I'm not now, but if you had to guess…” 

Jade shifted her weight to one hip and pinched at the seams of her Bantha leathers again; in a few weeks this suit would need replacing, but for now there was still room enough for proper air. 

“Not certain yet. Putting off being a desk jockey for as long as I'm physically able.” 

Karrde stepped in close and laid a hand to her elbow, cupping the covered flesh gently, “You need to take care, Mara, this isn't some week-long illness you've contracted. Your life is going to cha–”

Jade pulled her arm back and set herself a few paces away, “I'm fully aware, Talon. And you don't need to concern yourself with my well-being. I'll be on Yavin IV inside of a day or two and then I'll have a more accurate timetable for you.” 

Karrde sighed in resignation, knowing she would pull away; no matter how close their friendship had grown over the years, this was new territory for Jade and one she’d not been prepared for. It was no surprise she’d be reticent to admit her feelings, no matter how uncommonly open he was to her. 

“Very well. Take all the leave you need. You know your job is secure.” 

Mara nodded and began to head back towards her station, back to a mountain of datapads and pressing inquiries she needed to tie up before taking off. 

Zak’s chair creaked and squealed as she settled, creating an annoying cadence that crudely drew at her attention, baiting the smuggler with each metallic shriek. 

“What now, Ghent?” 

“A few of us are planning on visiting the local talent on Bakura later today. Interested in joining us?” 

Jade turned to face Zak, crossing her legs and arms as she settled her gaze onto his. She thought about what she might have said 80 days ago, thought of whether or not she'd even have to think about the answer. 

She knew why he asked her this, to bait her into hesitance, which she was now delivering fully. “I’d love to, only I need to be off ship in thirty-eight hours and can't afford to screw around just now.” 

“I heard Wedge Antilles might be there…” 

Mara perked up at that, hiding a smile as the thought of the last time she had run into the Resistance pilot crossed her mind. She knew she shouldn't string anyone along, let alone a close friend of Skywalker’s, but a part of her felt any actions taken to spite the Jedi Master were justified. 

And anyway, she always enjoyed Wedge’s company, much like she enjoyed Talon or even Zak...to a degree. 

“Why the kriff would Antilles be so far out from his usual system rounds?” Mara leaned back in her ancient chair and tapped a stylus to her forehead, trying her best not to appear eager. She didn't need the rumormill churning over something else these days. 

“How the Siths hell should I know? I just heard what I heard and passed it along. So, are you joining us or not?” 

Jade scattered her datapads and then separated each one into its rightful place, all the while remaining resolutely silent. Mulling, analyzing. 

“Jade?”

“Yeah, I'll go. What time?”

††† 

Two hours later, Mara was in a fresh set of evening leathers, hair down, laying in a wavy, relaxed pool of crimson against her bare back. Tonight wasn’t about beginnings or endings, but rather silencing the impolite mutterings within her close knit smuggling world. Despite her cool exterior, Mara still had something to prove.

Jade met Zak, Talon, Aves and Shada by the rear of the docking bay; having landed on Bakura an hour or so earlier the group convened by the exit to figure out their plan of action for the night. There was a brief pause as Mara had descended the ramp, all eyes turning to her, Talon being the one to break the silence, “And to what do we owe the honor, Miss Jade?” Karrde delivered a mock-bow and threw his arms forward to further drive the teasing home, knowing his charge would appreciate the subtle deflection he created. 

“Hush up, Talon, I already regret saying yes to Zak, but the poor man wouldn't stop badgering until I did. Can we get a move on?” 

All members of the Wild Karrde laughed and left for the nearest cantina.

††† 

“You’re not drinking, Jade?” Ghent asked, brushing an unsteady hand through icy-blue hair, his eyes dancing around in their sockets, breath reeking of alcohol. The tech-wizard had imbibed his fair share of Corellian ales already and though he wasn’t pushy, his constant curiosities came close to crossing the line.

“Zak, I think maybe you should slow down, perhaps even head back to whatever ship you flew in on.” Mara turned at the sound of a familiar voice and smiled – Wedge Antilles, saving the day. 

“Well, well, well, look who we have here. Mr. Rebellion Resistance Fighter Pilot, Wedge Antilles! Good to see you, friend. Care to share an ale with me? My beautiful, albeit dangerous, co-worker seems to be off the drink and my other crewmates are nowhere to be found.” 

Wedge winked at Mara and kissed her cheek in an easy greeting, “Good to see, Mara. You alright? What brings you out this far?” 

Mara returned the pleasantries, eyes briefly scanning the room for any other former Rogue squadron pilots loitering about, before settling back onto Wedge. “Great to see you, too. Me? Out here living the smuggler’s dream. Prepping for a multi-day leave to Yavin IV in a few hours, but figured a quick reprieve from the wheeling and dealing couldn’t hurt.” 

Wedge raised his eyebrows and then ushered Mara towards the opposite end of the bar, a hand placed hesitantly against the small of her back. He leaned into her ear, fingers still splayed against the bare skin by the bottom V-cut of her leathers, “I don’t think he’ll be there, just so you know. On Yavin, I mean. I checked into it for you.” 

Mara’s eyes fell to the glass of whiskey in Wedge’s hands and she sighed, “I want to steal that damn drink and not think twice on my actions. I get so kriffing angry, and so fast these days, Wedge. It’s not good.” 

Antilles finished the brown liquid in one fell swoop before placing the bottom-heavy tumbler down, “You know you can’t do that, Mara. Listen, it’s not forever, yeah? And I know we kind of fell into this friendship or...whatever it is...without much thought, but I am here for you.” 

Two forest-green eyes found themselves shuting at the gentleness to his words – this was what she needed right now. Not prying coworkers or even supporting bosses, just a...friend. 

She shared the news with Wedge right after telling Talon and to this day, Mara wasn’t sure what compelled her to do such a thing. It’s not as if her and Antilles were ever close – sure they knew one another from floating in the same circles but neither would ever go so far as to call themselves friends. Acquaintances at best. Yet, one night, she blurted it out in fervent abandon, and he was, for all intents and purposes, hooked in. 

Jade made sure of it that those were the only two souls who knew, outside of the physician's office; Antilles and Karrde were sworn to secrecy, came close to being contractually bound, but Mara knew the truth would inevitably find its way home to the one person she didn’t long for it to. 

“Thanks, Wedge. You’re right. I guess accepting it all hasn’t been the easiest of battles. And thanks for checking to see whether or not he’d be on-planet. Can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.” 

Wedge ordered another drink and said nothing as the tender took his credits and placed two freshly poured fingers-worth by his hands. His silence unsettled Jade, “What is it?” 

The former Commander bobbed his head back and forth as he tossed a few bits from a torn napkin to the floor, obviously mulling over his next words at length. “You have to tell him, eventually. He has a right to know, Mara.” 

Mara licked her dry lips and tilted her neck to crack it, body aching to keep itself busy in one way or another. Anything to put off the inevitables that did nothing but haunt her these days, “I know. But not now, not for a while yet.” 

“I’m going to finish this criminally cheap drink real quick – want to get out of here and go somewhere quiet?” Wedge’s brows raised as he finished his question, doing just as he professed he would and slurping the fiery liquid down without so much as a wince. It was clear he had done this many nights before, just as she once had. The memories of those endless drunken nights seemed like another life to her now. 

But she didn’t _have_ to be lonely on top of it all, “I’d like that, yes.”

††† 

Luke sat at his office desk, signing off on legal forms and perusing occasional new-student admissions and welcome packets. He was on edge, teeth near-chattering from the stress and unanswered calls, mind wondering how much longer he’d be able to hold on without completely falling ill to some form of mental defect.

Not knowing for sure, hell, not knowing anything was torture in its own right, but when it involved… _this_ , Luke had never lived so many days thrashed by such bone-deep uncertainty. 

Skywalker had been told the news a few weeks ago from Leia, of all people. At a family dinner, of all places. It took every ounce of restraint and willpower for him not to run out of the Solo’s house and into his ship in search of _her_. Somehow he had made it through the rest of his Bantha steak before seeing himself out on account of an early start at work the following day. It satiated his sister but Han had been poking questions at him about that night ever since. 

In truth, that night he went home and...cried. Well, first Luke tried her comlink, and Talon’s, even the Wild Karrde’s crew as a whole, all to no avail. It was as if the galaxy had swallowed them whole and in this absence of confirmation, Luke found himself suffused by an impassable guilt and that’s when the tears came. 

Unbidden and ugly, he screamed and tore at himself, gouging and scratching bits of skin on his arms and ripping at the brand on his chest. How could it have happened? _How?_ Obviously, he understood the mechanics of the HOW but...Mara wouldn't have allowed _it_ to happen if she weren't protected, would she? He must have asked himself this a hundred times or more, and yet his holo remained impossibly silent, no incoming calls received that night or since. At least, none from Jade. 

And now, thirty-two standard days later, he sat in his office with the same anger and the same guilt and every shred of fear he’d had since Leia’s innocently-delivered, passerby comment. The same words that spilled out of her mouth were the same echoes repeating inside of him ever since: “Oh, I ran into Lando the other day. Seems a certain ex-Emperor’s Hand has found herself in a mighty predicament.” 

Luke had paused chewing and lifted curious blues to meet two rich, chocolate-browns, “What? Who?” 

Leia dipped her head, in a juicy-gossip sort of fashion that she would sometimes adopt while at home and surrounded by her family, “Mara Jade! I hear she’s pregnant. Do you believe that? Never pictured her as the mothering type.” 

He knew it had to be his. There was no question about it, but why she hadn’t contacted him or reached out remained the biggest mystery of all to Skywalker. Was she afraid of him, after what she had glimpsed that final night at the Sleeping Rose? Or was it deeper than that… 

Luke needed to know, and soon. 

“Master Skywalker?” 

Broken out of his reverie, Luke raised his head to meet one of his older pupils, “Yes, Corran?” 

“I’ve received an encoded transcript sent to you by a...Rogue Squadron pilot, former Commander Wedge Antilles. I’ve attached the cipher’s decryption program along with it, for your eyes only.” 

Luke held his hand out to retrieve the datapad and paired hand-written documents before politely dismissing his student, “Thanks, Horn.”

It took no time to decipher the message, as it was short and to the point: 

“MJ, Y IV / t-12 SH. –WA.” 

Mara Jade, on Yavin IV, in twelve standard hours. – Wedge Antilles.

Luke read the message three times before it sunk it – his friend had known, somehow, about Mara’s pregnancy and Luke’s supposed involvement. And in knowing as much, reached out to Skywalker to ensure he’d have the chance to speak or confront Jade about it. 

This was it, this was his way to her – to confirm or deny the news he had been told so carelessly thirty-two days ago.

He sat there, heart frozen and burning apart all at the same time. This was it. 

Luke’s hands are shaking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't fire your arrows just yet! I promise the sequel won't be oozing with tropes – expect some mighty AU action, actually. Not to suggest that this entire fic hasn't been AU, because it has, but even more deviating in part II.  
> ––––––
> 
> Now onto my sappy thanks: 
> 
> To all of you who have clicked the kudos button or subscribed/bookmarked, thank you thank you! I thrive on stats a bit more than I should, so you'll never know just how much those quiet interactions mean to me. x
> 
> To everyone who left comments, well, the sun rises with you, my friends. I hung on every word, every suggestion or theory – every emotion you shared made me a better writer, a better listener and opened my mind to a world that, I suspect, is never-ending. I cannot express how thankful I am that you took the time to leave me constructive criticisms, lengthy praise or a simple "I love this." It really does make all the difference to me, so know that I owe more to you than I could ever properly articulate. x
> 
> To my beta, Meo, I ADORE YOU. I could not have done this without you, plain and simple. I've become a better writer over the last four months but more so than that, a better person for knowing you. I am forever indebted for all you've helped me create; for pushing me when my mind flat our refused to cooperate, for challenging me to look outside of the box and for supporting all these crazy fantasies I have with a most ridiculous enthusiasm that I've come to rely on more than I'm willing to admit. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. xx

**Author's Note:**

> Be kind, please–have not written erotica in a decade+ AND this is my first official Star Wars fanfic. I've been researching every possible thing I can, but don't crucify me for a minute detail. Polite concrit is aces.


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